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C16 - You will never see Angels.

"THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! THEY ARE FUCKING EVERYWHERE!"

"ANYONE THAT CAN HEAL STAY IN THE MIDDLE, EVERYONE ELSE STAY SHOULDER TO SHOULDER! DO. NOT. RUN!" Steve's voice trembled and did sod all to fill me with confidence.

This is it. We're going to die.

An endless swarm of Skull Wearing spiders poured in from the surroundings, circling and hissing aggressive challenges at the frightened bunch of meatbags standing shoulder to shoulder; their sizes ranged from a small cat to the height of a large dog.

Vile, sloppy, chomping and ripping noises emanated from where they smothered both the corpses of our fallen as well as the corpse of the nesting monstrosity we had just brought down.

They greedily picked it all clean, like starving piranhas.

There was 20 of us remaining, I think..We were all exhausted and had used up most of our healing tonics and so I wasn't sure how long the healers would be able to keep up, let alone if they even had any dregs of energy or Majik to do a single heal.

We're not going to make it. There's no hope in fucking hel-

As my thoughts raced for a solution, a large horror dashed forward, aiming for a short man with a drill, and with the large one came dozens of emboldened smaller ones; he screamed as he jabbed out with the drill, grazing the large attacker in the face, somehow managing to force it to retreat as it screeching out spider expletives.

People cried out in sheer terror as they kicked and swiped at the remaining smaller ones until they managed to force them all into retreating, realising they had lost their larger champion.

We can't stay here.

"STEVE! WE ARE GOING TO DIE IF WE TRY AND FIGHT THEM!" I yelled over the din of screeches and people shouting at each other to stay in the circle and not give any ground. Admittedly, the only reason we hadn't been swarmed seemed to be because we were in a large crowd where even the largest of the creatures were somewhat hesitant..but judging at how much shouting was going on in our defensive circle, we were barely holding it together as it was.

"DONNIE WAIT! NO! STOP!"

One guy finally bottled it and tried to run off. He made it barely 5 metres, smacking two spiders with his hammer before getting pulled down as dozens of the monsters ripped chunks of flesh off him.

"NO WAIT-NO DONNIE! SHIT! SHIT! THIS IS FUCKED! WE'RE FUCKED!"

It wasn't a quick death and the screaming and flailing attracted more of the horde as they all fought to get a piece of the guy.

As grim as it was, I looked back at the pump house and noticed that Donnie had created an opening for us. The larger monsters scrambled over its siblings to fight over the screaming Donnie, and only the smaller ones were left nervously chittering and darting about, trying to stay close to each other for safety whilst maximising the opportunity to obtain a small morsel of meat.

"WE NEED TO MOVE BACK TO THE WELL BUILDING! THERE'S LESS OF THEM THERE! WE CAN BREAK THROUGH IF WE GO NOW!" I looked to my side at Tanner, who nodded at me with his teeth clenched.

"EVERYONE FOLLOW ME AND GODU! I'M NOT FUCKING DYING TODAY!" Tanner roared out as he started to glow red.

"ARGH MY LEG!" Someone cried out behind us.

FOR FUCK SAKES!

"WAIT TANNER PLEASE!" Sylvie's pleading cry was barely audible.

But it was either too late for him to stop, or he didn't hear her.

He charged forward into the 15-deep row of smaller, skull-headed spiders, trampling on their claws, kicking and running over their dirty, bloodstained heads. I took a step then hesitated as I looked back at faces full of fear and panic..but I couldn't risk staying behind any longer; Tanner was already a few metres ahead and I had to move NOW.

GO.

Exploding into a full blown sprint, I followed the path left behind Tanner that was mostly littered with wounded or dead rat-sized monsters. As I closed the gap, I could hear people behind me screaming and shouting at each other as they started to follow.

"I'M FUCKING FOLLOWING THEM COMON!"

"STOP! WAIT FOR RINE!"

"MOVE IT YOU STUPID PRICK!"

The cleared path was rapidly shrinking as the swarm closed in on its own corpses; my shields responded, snapping round to cover either side of my waist, delivering sucker punches to any limb or jaw that came within range. The cretins were far too eager to eat their own kind; seeing a free easy meal was simply too irresistible for them..

We arrived at the doorway and I booted a cat-sized skull wearer that strayed into my path, then instinctively shoulder charged forward towards Tanner in an incredibly lucky or precognition move, because a much larger monster jumped out of the brush into the air, aiming for Tanner's head, but instead it was t-boned by me and I slammed it back into the bushes.

Tanner snarled out as he blurred past me, and domed another hungry aggressor that was charging from behind, his save allowed me to reach the doorway. I spun around and was mortified to see that past the stream of people rushing towards us, there were 5 people that had barely moved which included Steve and Sylvie. Steve was swinging and stabbing, frantically trying to protecting Sylvie, who herself was desperately helping one of the other healers hobble along; their leg was bloodied and gushing blood.

The rest of the group were coming in fast and I saw the shield woman covering one side, bashing her way through while the other side was being protected by a guy skillfully skewering with his rapid drill. Triya was in the middle of them and Xno was hovering around her taking careful pot shots at specific targets.

A woman at the back of Triya's group tripped up and smashed her face into the ground hard, she groggily raised her head up, dazed, and I watched the look of confusion turn into pure fear as she was dragged away by her feet toward the swarming crowd.

Oh go-

In the last few moments she started clawing at the ground and screaming before she was engulfed by endless legs and teeth.

Her screams stopped quickly.

Tanner neatly connected his hammer into another larger skull wearer and I kicked the head of a smaller one that had tried to bite at my ankles; he followed up with quick overhead strikes on both, using the spike who put them down for good. Looking back as the larger main group reached us, I shouted a plea for them to help protect the entrance..but the majority ran inside, including Triya, leaving me staring at the door with my mouth wide open in disbelief.

Was I not fucking clear enough with my request for help?!

At least the shield woman stayed with us to help defend the doorway.

Why didn't we fucking just go to the building in the first place! This has gone to complete and utter shit!

I wanted to roar with frustration, but there was no time for any of that.

Snapping back to the smaller group, they had miraculously made great progress and were now halfway and coming in fast, but they were down to 4 people.

Steve wasn't there.

No no no NO! Come on man!

I looked past them in panic and saw Steve had fallen and was wrestling on the ground with glowing chains wrapped around his arms as he kept trying to push off several larger skull wearers. The swarm steadily piled on.

"STEVE! GET UP!" Gritting my teeth I took a step forward. It was unrealistic to think I could save him, I knew this, but it was hard seeing him being brutally outnumbered and not trying anything...but it didn't matter..It was too late.

The last thing I saw of Steve was him stabbing one of the bastards in the head with a glowing spike, and then he suddenly disappeared, buried under the mass of abominations.

It didn't feel real, yet my heart sank like a sack of shit, I hadn't known Steve for long, but he felt like a true friend and he had done so much to keep people safe; he had grown on me greatly..I glanced at the remaining people, struggling to break through.

He's gone..But they're not. Don't think, just act.

I recycled my sadness into anger as I stormed towards Sylvie and shoulder charged into a larger one attempting to attack them, using my knee rather than my shoulder to smash the vile piece of crap back into the crowd. I grabbed the other arm of the person she was helping hobble along and powered towards the door, glancing back to look out for attacks. The other two were defending the rear, back peddling. One was swinging a spear frantically and the other was the slingshot teenager who was firing handfuls of small rocks from his advanced slingshot.

Keep it up kid, just a few more seconds!

The swarm collectively screeched and started to rush forward at us remaining stragglers, becoming enboldened now that the biggest ones had returned from their feast. This prompted Tanner to rush out and he just managed to barely save the slingshot kid's life by home running one of the largest that tried to blindside the boy.

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I quite literally chucked Sylvie and the passenger into the doorway and spun round to make sure Tanner or the others didn't get snowed under.

The final two ran past me as I saw Tanner fall down; he was on the ground with the bar of his weapon pressed up against the face and jaw of the largest skull wearer, which was angrily trying to gnash through. All around him the smaller ones were greedily biting his clothes, face and skin.

NO! NO! COME ON TANNER YOU CAN DO IT!

I heard the slingshot boy curse and I side-eyed him holding up his slingshot and shouting.

"Come on, come on....just one ffffffffffffucking....MORE!!" The boy gritted his teeth as he pulled back the string that was flickering on and off, glowing and spluttering like an incandescent light bulb on its way out.

Tanner's grip slipped on his weapon, leaving only one hand holding back the creature bearing down on him.

"SYLVIE! TRIYA! SOMEONE?! WE NEED HELP!" I cried out as I moved forward, but to my utter disappointment I stumbled as I failed to summon the strength to shoulder charge; I just didn't have it left in me.

I reached out and tried to grasp every last ounce of strength I had..but there was nothing there.

No! Please! Just one more! Just something! ANYTHING! I'll take the health hit I don't care!

Denying my request, my shields shuddered and reluctantly collapsed into my back and I fell onto one knee as Tanner became engulfed by the swarming mass; my eyes started to mist up as I heard his screams of pain.

No...I'm completely battered… I'm so fucking sorry Tanner-

"AAARGH!"

The shield woman charged forward and roared as she ploughed into one side, clearing enough for me to see Tanner's bloodied arm still holding the sledgehammer with his other hand thrashing into jaws and legs.

*BRRZT. BRRZT.*

Xno's projectiles sprayed into the crowd and the monsters scrambled to get away from the danger, hissing and screeching in pain from the larger projectiles.

A single pyramid projectile whistled and struck the large creature that was pinning Tanner down, square in its head, piercing the skull and blasting out a gooey, viscious spray out the back of it, and he let one shredded hand go of the sledgehammer and put it up behind his head, seemingly reaching out for someone, anyone.

Time crawled as I stared at his hand.

The monsters were all frozen with their mouths gaping, saliva stringing through the air.

The shield woman's thin face, sharp nose, bright blue eyes and braided sandy blonde hair mid-twirl, smashing faces in a wide arc.

Several oval coloured projectiles drifting through the air mid glide towards their targets.

The world took on an overly vibrant punchy colour palette that felt like I was looking at a renaissance painting that used impossibly accurate colours..and I felt a slither of energy regenerate.

I growled as I put it all into one last push.

Everything violently crashed back to normal speed as I burst forward with a brief shoulder charge that cut out as I leapt, but let me keep the forward momentum; I hurtled through the air, skidded on the asphalt, grabbed his outstretched hand, and then yanked him free, dragging him as fast as I could towards the door and the others. The shield woman caught up to us and belted a shitter that was trying to block our path, then spun round to shield bash some unhappy diners behind that were extremely pissed off that I'd taken their meal away; she grabbd Tanner's foot and we lifted him the last few metres before falling through the doorway and sprawling out onto the hard concrete floor..

The door slammed shut behind us as Xno activated his spotlights, sounding off repeating synth-growls, aiming at the three screeching, crawling bastards that had managed to squeeze their way inside..but that was a grave mistake on their part. I couldn't move a muscle, but several hands dragged me and Tanner to the corner while people shouted angrily, running forward to inact violent revenge on the stupid, mutated little cunts. Although they weren't actually little, rather the size of huge rats, I heard splatters and wet smacks as they were beaten to a pulp in mere seconds, yet still managing to inflict a nasty bite on one person's leg.

A thin sliver of sunlight burst into the room as the door was briefly pushed open by a large screaming skull wearer; two people threw themselves at the door, with one person stabbing the monster in the face, forcing it to pull its disgusting head back out..

Several whimpering people desperately held the door as it rattled, threatening to smash open, until Triya ran up cursing and used the bolts, successfully securing it. The sound coming from the door was intimidating, as hundreds of small legs tapped, thudded and scratched, like large hailstones on a tin roof, trying to find a way to get themselves in.

If hailstones screeched and had nasty rows of teeth-

Tanner dropped his sledgehammer with a small clang and stopped moving.

"TANN-" I choked on my words, struggling to catch my breath; everyone was either panting or sobbing hysterically.

"UCK-TANNER-NEEDS-UKK-HEALING!" I managed to get my words out between gulps of air, my body was overloaded with lactic acid and every single muscle was cramping and aching, causing mild spasms that rippled through my body..but nobody seemed to be coming to help! I tried to look around and between people's legs I spotted Sylvie lying face down on the floor, not moving, and the guy with the wounded leg, who I believed to be the only remaining healer alive, was also unconscious, propped up against a wall.

Straining to look up as my body started resisting my mental commands, I could see the petrified eyes of everyone that had heard me looking around, yet nobody appeared to be able to help Tanner. I groaned as I rolled over onto my back and shakily reached into my leg pocket and pulled out my healing tonic bottle.

"S-someone-p-p-lease.." I breathlessly said as I held the bottle out, and to my relief, the shield woman grabbed it with a grunt and unscrewed the cap before pouring some of it on his face, after which she opened his mouth and poured a little more.

Groaning, I rolled back, struggling to keep my eyes open as she came over to me and held the bottle in front of my face.

"Open up. You need some too." she said gruffly.

I obliged and she poured a bit in. It tasted almost sugary but also left the same sensation as popping candy as it slid down my throat; I immediately felt better as a warm feeling spread around my body.

"Ugh..Thanks for that..I really appreciate your help.." I rasped out, my voice broken from shouting so hard.

"Yeah sure. No problem." she replied flatly, and placed the bottle down next to me still lying on the floor, and walked off.

..Was it, something I said?..

I managed to roll onto my side with a sigh and observed Tanner's face wounds improving markedly and nearly all other visible wounds were scabbing over. Under the lighting that Xno was providing, I could see reflections of tiny specs of shimmer coming to the surface of his skin and then collecting blood, dried or wet, from the surface and then absorbing it before disappearing.

Woa..

The wounds weren't completely healing, he probably needed more juice for that, but, after a minute or two he cracked open his eyes-

"Ugh..."

And then groaned.

"Fuck sakes.. This is the second time I'm expecting to see an angel but instead waking up to see your mug."

He sighed as he closed his eyes, his mouth making tacky dehydrated sounds whilst he licked his dehydrated lips and yawned. I snorted, kicking a small dust cloud up from the floor, still lacking the energy to move.

"Yeah sod off." I let out a strained chuckle. I took a moment before deciding Tanner would want to know what happened.

"Steve didn't make it."

He tensed up at my words.

"For fuck sake Steve...bloody twat...he was probably trying to show off.." He released a groaning sigh.

"Yeah..rest in peace, Steve." I muttered and rubbed my weary eyes; extreme exhaustion was overpowering me.

People were keeping busy and had started moving heavy objects, using crates and other bits to make a sectioned off area in our corner; we also weren't alone anymore, as Sylvie and another unconscious body were dragged over and laid down, with several other people sitting down resting against the wall.

"You. Help me move this. Stick it here. We need to go sort out whatever bullshit is inside this pit." The shield woman or Triya seemed to be directing people, orchestrating some kind of action plan.

"Once the injured are #######, we'll need to ####### clear #####-"

My eyelids were becoming extremely heavy and my hearing started to fill with some quietly roaring white noise.

Is that..Triya talking? or the, shield..woman...

I really needed to ask her name considering she saved my life-

"Sssgaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.....Sssgaaaaaaah...."

Tanner started snoring loudly, so I drunkenly slapped his arm and rolled onto my back.

"I'm 'guna..Trrrllake a..nap...mmmate..."

The guy didn't move a muscle, but my words were coming out slurred as my mind started to shut down.

"Wake me up if anyfin..hap..puns...."

All I could think about was sleeping, even when a small part of my mind was screaming at me that the room wasn't safe, that there was a fucking nest at the end of the room, and there were hundreds of creepy-nibbly-bitey cunts outside, it didn't matter.

I need to sleep.

...

..

.

We need to sleep.