“WAKE UP!!!”

Lucas jumped from his slumber with a shock, “Shit!!! What!? Something happen!?”

The tall burly man snickered at him, and Lucas realized that he finally arrived at his destination.

“Goddamit, Vic, I told you to wake me, not give me a fucking heart attack.”

“I tried, but you were out like a light,” that stupid grin never once disappearing from his face, “also this was more fun.”

Lucas just shook his head and looked out of the car, observing the edge of the woodland in front of him, the trees blocking the view of most things. The land behind him is mostly flat in contrast, with many views and landmarks out in the distance. Lucas appreciated the sights, but never had the time of day to appreciate the view except during the car rides.

Lucas hopped out of the car and made his way to the trunk grabbing his bag, checking the pistol holstered around his waist, and his knife. Lucas wore green cargo pants and a light gray sweater, a simple getup in contrast to the dangerous gear that he carried. After grabbing his supplies, he made way to the entrance of the woodlands, making sure everything was in place so that he wouldn’t unexpectedly drop something.

Vic, was leaning against the driver’s door smoking a cigarette, “This gonna be an all-day job or jus’ a quick grab-and-go?”

“I’m trying to aim for quick, I’m not in the mood to stay out overnight,” Lucas replied as he stretched his cramped legs.

“Gotcha, just don’t forget that ya still owe me for that new flashlight of yers and for this here transportation fee.”

Lucas looked at Victor with annoyance, “I gave you three packs of cigarettes last time to make up for that, I nearly got my fucking face sliced in half, and y’know how hard it is to find those nowadays?”

“Yeah, expect the packs you gave me were shit, so I’m only marking it as partial payment.”

Lucas groaned in frustration. He thought that the packs were in good condition based on how clean the packaging still looked, apparently the entire ‘looks can be deceiving’ saying wounded up being true after all. Lucas still didn’t believe Victor, so he just assumed that Victor had a particular taste for his cigarettes.

Victor puffed out another cloud of smoke, “Y’know the drill, just bring me something good or make a payment from what you get or no transportation for ya, kid.”

“Y’know I hate when you call me that, I’m nineteen already, I don’t have to be stuck with you.”

“Yah, and again, ya started working for me at sixteen, so ya forever will be a kid to me and I know damn well ya ain’t gotta car so yer stuck with me.” Victor teased.

Lucas wanted to tell him off, but he just retaliated with a single flip of his finger.

“If you’re still nervous today, I could give you my rabbit’s foot keychain, give you a bit of luck.”

“That’s just superstition, you know that I don’t believe in that luck either.”

“But it’s not like you don’t don’t believe in it neither,” Victor shot back, “you believe it when it happens, calling something a lucky break, or you shove it to the side when you feel like it ain’t happening to you. It’s all a matter of perspective. I don’t think people are unlucky, they just missing luck and I believe that today will be your lucky day.”

Lucas stared at Victor with doubt, “Based on what?”

“Knowing you for years, I know that you are one resilient sonavabitch, so I got confidence you’ll be a’ight.”

Lucas just shook his head in resignation, finishing adjusting his bag and leather holster, “I’ll take your word for it.”

Victor held up the rabbit’s foot and with slight hesitation and embarrassment, Lucas took the keychain, thinking that Victor might not let him forget this. After grabbing the key chain and shoving it into his pocket he entered the forest.

After thirty minutes of walking and running, he saw a group of 5 goblins in the distance, thankfully facing away from his direction. One was napping while the others seemed to be either on patrol or hunting for food, both without much success as they did nothing but sniff their surroundings with their spiral-shaped nostrils.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

This worked in Lucas’ favor and thought to himself that this would be the perfect opportunity to take them on quietly. Lucas considered himself a fighter but knew never to fight battles he couldn’t win. From the look of the group, Lucas could see only small goblins, and this made him a bit relieved. He needed an easy job with no injuries and no use for healing ailments.

As the goblins arrived at a clearing, Lucas took out a compacted crossbow from his bag and began to climb up a tree. He hated the idea of using the crossbow this early, but he didn’t want to be out for long so after notching an arrow in, he took aim at the nearest goblin, taking deep breaths in and out, and focusing on the target in front of him. Before the cool breeze could disrupt his aim, he fired the arrow, piercing the grayish creature’s skull silently, the other goblins facing away and unaware of their fallen comrade.

With one goblin out of the way Lucas repeated the process once more and another goblin managed to meet the same fate. However, Lucas was disappointed when the other goblins took notice of this shot and of the corpses beside them. With their anger finally realized, they threw crude spears made of wood and stone at their assailant with as much might as their anger fueled them, but failed repeatedly due to the branches in the way and the height at which Lucas was in.

Maybe things will finally go my way.

Despite how many of the spears would miss him, Lucas could feel the wind from the passing weapons on his skin, so he took care to make sure to keep up his guard in case Victor’s so-called luck was not on his side. Lucas started preparing another arrow into the crossbow calmly and started preparing to aim at the next target, but then suddenly, a spear hit the branch he was perched on, and the world slowed down and the branch snapped sending Lucas to the ground.

Lucas’s anxiety rose as he shut his eyes, prepared for the impact of the ground, but was surprised when the impact was not as hard as he expected. He quickly adjusted himself, standing up and seeing one of the goblins splatted on the ground. It accidentally ended up in the spot that Lucas landed on and was knocked out cold. The other goblins managed to step out of the way quickly to avoid his fall and just as quickly began to rush towards Lucas.

Within a heartbeat, Lucas pulled out his knife, trying to avoid the jabs from the goblins. They were tall enough to reach his waistline, but their size made them quick, and they managed to land a scratch across Lucas’ shoulder and thigh. When the opportunity showed itself Lucas, with as much force as he could muster, kicked one of the goblins in the face, sending it rolling away from him.

The other goblin jumped over tumbling goblin narrowly avoiding being tripped from the rolling body. However, the second the goblin jumped, Lucas leaped forward, closing the distance between them, and shoving his knife into its throat of the goblin. Lucas struggled to pull his knife out, mustering out as much force as he could but failing due to the fall. Despite getting his fall cushioned, the fall still made him feel like all the air got sucked out of his body and without a chance to catch his breath, was unable to suck it all back in again.

The other goblin that was sent tumbling managed to pick itself back up, spear already ready in hand and was rushing towards Lucas, still struggling to pull his knife out. Lucas turned towards the other goblin and saw that it was rushing toward him. Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to get his knife out in time to let go of the knifed corpse, he narrowly avoided the spear’s pointed tip as it flashed past his face.

Before Lucas could reposition himself, he unluckily tripped back on a branch and was back on the ground. The other goblin was already rushing towards him at a speed fast enough to not leave Lucas any time to pick himself back up again. Lucas couldn’t tell if it was without thinking or just based on pure fight-or-flight instinct, but before the goblin could close in on him with the stoney spear, he had grabbed the pistol on his hand, his finger already on the trigger, and shot a metal object at the incoming creature. The goblin continued forward a couple of feet before it fell face forward on the ground and the life drained out of its body.

Lucas stared at the goblin for a couple of seconds out of perplexing before realizing his mistake. He only brought the gun in case the crossbow jammed and with all honesty, he didn’t need to use the gun.

Go, go, go!!!!

The words echoed in Lucas’ mind as he collected his belongings. Ignoring the pain from the scrapes and bruises, he took out a metal needle contraption that closely resembled a syringe with a vial from his bag and inserted it into the skulls of the goblins. A blue colored liquid filled the syringe and after the it was filled up all the way. Lucas rushed over to two other corpses and repeated the process before taking off in the direction of the car.

“Bout time ya finished!” The tall muscular man called out from a distance as he saw Lucas in the distance.

“Start the car, start the car!”

Victor, realizing what Lucas meant, threw his cigarette on a patch of dried leaves, and scrambled to start the car, “Ya used a gun already?!

Lucas with haste, hoisted the crossbow and his bag into the trunk. “Sorry, sorry, but save it when we’re in the clear.”

Victor kept turning the key, his panic only growing with every failed starting sputter of the aged vehicle. When the vehicle finally roared to life, Victor pushed down the gas pedal completely, until the forest was out of reach behind them.

Lucas turned around behind him and saw a horde of creatures, goblins, and bat-like creatures, scrabbling out the entrance of the forest, weapons, and claws in hand. The creatures roared at the car as it drove further away from their home. None of them ran after them however as they instead attempted to put out the fire sparked from Victor’s cigarette.

Lucas sighed, not able to tell if it was from annoyance at himself or at the creatures behind them, “This was not my lucky day.”

“Well, you managed to somehow not get yer guts ripped out of ya, and with yer track record, probably at least got a couple of vials. So, ya made some cash and lived.”

Lucas wanted to tell Victor to ‘shut up,’ but he just sighed and responded, “Yeah.”