Silence reigned after Louise’s declaration.

Shane let go of Hazel. Alex caught himself and regained his balance. Everyone lowered their weapons, not out of a sense of safety but one of shock. They stared at Louise.

“Are you sure?” Phil was the first to break the lull and ask the question they were all thinking.

“Do you think I made it up?” Louise stared at him appalled and furious. “That I’m making a joke?”

Phil’s face grew red and his brow furrowed. He lifted a tense hand to point at Louise.

“He doesn’t think that.” Heinz interrupted. He stepped around Jack and Jamie and moved back towards Louise and the house. “It’s just.. Are you sure it’s not the swarm?”

They had set out on this hunt knowing that there were two targets. The Clogagh Swarm and the Courtmacsherry killer. But. They had all hoped they wouldn’t be the ones to find either. Everyone was tired and sore and the day had barely begun. On top of that, this was definitely the worse of the two targets to find.

It had been three days since he learned that humans gave Energy in the same way that the Swarm did. Alisha had told him about a murder and the possibility of people killing each other for Energy but.. he hadn’t wanted to believe it. In many ways he hadn’t, attributing the missing people to rising Swarm Growth in previously cleared zones.

As Heinz looked at his friends and group mates around him, it was clear that he wasn't alone in these thoughts.

“I’m sure.” Louise answered faintly.

Nathan shuddered and nodded his agreement. There was another lull as everyone adjusted to the news.

“What.. What do we do?” Tara asked. She looked at Louise, Phil, Heinz and Shane but none of them had answers.

“We need to let people know.” Jack started slowly but gained confidence as he spoke. “We should head back to the meeting point and tell them what we’ve found.”

“And if they come back while we’re gone?” Shane asked. His shoulders were slumped and his voice was uncharacteristically gentle. He pointed at the open door and the muddy footsteps leading to it. “Can we hide that we’ve been here?”

“We can chase them down.” Jack answered.

Shane shook his head at Jack. “If it was that easy the killers would have been found already.”

And Shane was right, Heinz realised. This was not the first time that a house full of bodies had been found. Did another group have this same conversation then? What had they chosen?

“We need to send the news back.” Louise said an air of finality that came close to an order. She straightened up and gave Nathan’s shoulders a pat before stepping away from him. The man sank into himself but remained standing. “A few of us could go back and let them know.”

“Are you saying that we should handle this?” Phil asked quietly. His cheeks had lost their angry colour and only weary lines stood out as he watched Louise.

For the first time in days Louise looked straight back at him and responded without a bitter tone. “Who else? You spoke to Alisha earlier. We’re the only ones past the fourth threshold within five kilometres. It’ll be hours before anyone else gets here.”

Heinz tuned out the debate about whether to send people back as it continued. He was too caught up in the idea that there were bodies inside the house behind him. It wasn’t the first death he’d seen. It wasn’t even the first this week, but this was different to natural causes or even a Swarm attack. Someone, a human, had killed multiple people.

It wasn’t a new thought. People killed each other for a variety of reasons before this happened. Even serial killings seemed to come up more and more often in the news and media these days.

But not in Kimore. Not in his home. Not even in Ireland.

“No.”

Tara’s cold assertion brought him back to the conversation.

“There are still Swarm out there. We need to be careful.” Louise argued with a frown.

“Then they can go back with their normal group.” Tara glared right back at Louise. “Or you can go with them.”

“Tara..” Phil started but Tara was having none of it.

“No! I’ve passed the fourth threshold. I’m also the only one-” Tara made sure to look at each of their injuries before continuing. “That isn’t hurt.”

“Tara!" Louise snapped. "We can’t fight with you here.”

Tara stiffened and straightened up until she towered over all of them. “Can you do it without me? And what about afterwards?” She held her hands out towards them. Twin scars, thin red lines ran horizontally across her upper palms. Only the depth of the red made it stand out from the other creases. “You need my help.”

Louise’s face twisted.

“She stays.” Shane decided. He turned to Jack and Jamie’s group who were watching them cautiously. “Go now. Tell them and come back right away with as many as you can get.”

“Shane!” Phil shouted. He pushed forward and grabbing Shane’s shoulder, began to berate him.

Jamie looked to Heinz. Jack turned to him right after.

Heinz’s back hurt. The strains and aches from the day hadn’t seemed to go away.

Phil continued to argue with Shane who was starting to argue back. Louise sank down to sit on the ground. He looked at Tara. Her shoulders were set and her hands steady but her leg was shifting and vibrating in place. It was a nervous tick she couldn't seem to lose.

Heinz turned to Jamie and gave her a nod. She and Jack turned to their group and set off. He watched them go before sinking to the ground beside Louise. Tara wasn't trying to be difficult or even brave. She knew as well as any of them what could be out here.

“Shut up.” He called.

Tara looked at him but Phil and Shane were too busy arguing.

“SHUT UP.” He shouted this time. Both Phil and Shane turned to him, ready to argue with someone else.

“Humans give more energy than Swarm. Whoever comes back here might be stronger than any of us. They’ll be smarter than any Swarm." He paused. "What. Do. We. Do?”

“Tara-” Phil started.

“Has made her choice.” Heinz continued. He looked at Tara for the next bit. “She will stay in the back and run if things go bad. Right?”

Tara nodded.

“Say it.”

Tara glared at him. “I’ll run.”

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Heinz nudged Louise beside him. “That’s settled. So what do we do?”

“If they are stronger than us-” Phil trailed off. “Tara..”

“It will be difficult to hold them.” Shane finished. He looked Heinz, Louise and Phil in the eyes. “Don’t think about it. Understand? I can take care of it.”

It was leaving so much unsaid. Avoiding a conversation and the responsibility that none of them wanted to have.

Slowly, and one by one they nodded.

The upstairs was in disarray. Whoever had been living here seemed to have gone out of their way to leave it as messy as possible, almost as if to compensate for how clean the downstairs was left.

Heinz followed Louise carefully and reluctantly. His breath caught as she pushed the first door open but there were no bodies in this room. Food wrappers and boxes littered the room and bed. The stains were enough to keep Heinz’s eyes away from the bed.

The next room was a bathroom. The door had been left open as Louise and Nathan made a quick exit. Heinz took a short look at the bodies before closing the door. He closed his eyes and tried to steady himself.

“Why do they bring the bodies back?” He asked before he could stop himself.

“What?” Louise asked. She had stayed back for that door.

“The bodies. They aren’t like the graveyard.” Heinz tightened his grip on Shane’s axe. The creak of the wood and the pressure on his hands helped centre him.

“I don’t know what you mean?”

Heinz indicated to the door. How did he explain it?

Louise stepped forward and hesitated before pulling the door open to take another look. “They were killed but..”

“That’s all.” Heinz finished. The bodies had obvious causes of death but were otherwise untouched. “So why bring them here?”

Louise closed the door and set off further down the hallway.

The next door was an empty closet. Some of its contents was already strewn around the floor. The next led to a child’s room which was thankfully empty. They approached the final door cautiously. Louise counted down from three. Heinz burst in on zero. The smell hit him first. Rot. Decay. He scanned the room quickly. Two figures lay on the bed, dead.

Heinz choked on the smell and stumbled his way out. Louise pushed past him inside. He dry heaved a few times before standing upright and running down the stairs and away from the smell. A few more dry heaves against the wall and someone put their hands on his shoulders and guided him around the corner.

“Here.” Shane shoved a bottle into his hands.

Heinz took it and took a swig before spitting it out. It helped. Shane gave him a pat and turned to go back on patrol around the front.

“Somethings not right.” Louise started when Heinz joined the huddle in front of the door. No one said anything about his heaving, just made space.

“Downstairs is pristine but upstairs is a mess. There are bodies in the bathroom but-” Louise's eyes flicked to Heinz. “No reason to bring them here.”

“The back bedroom?” Heinz asked and pushed his finger into his temple.

“They were tucked in. A woman and a-”

“Stop.” Heinz interrupted. He didn’t want to think about it.

“The bodies were older.” Louise finished after a pause.

“How many people are we dealing with?” Phil asked stiffly.

“One I think.” Louise answered.

Heinz didn’t contribute.

Shane spat on the floor beside them. “We can’t fight inside. We need space to surround them.”

Silence followed. What had become a normal routine of planning for fights turned into something else when it was about a person.

Louise stirred. “How about we...”

The sound of the car gave him hope. Heinz leaned around the left corner of the house to watch the driveway. Louise pulled him back. She held a finger up to her lips.

The hope died and cool dread set in. Right. They weren’t hunting Swarm.

The gravel crunched loudly under the tires as it rolled quickly down the driveway. Too quickly for someone new to the narrow road. This was not their backup. The loud rumble of a large vehicle disturbed the peace only to die in seconds. A door swung open and slammed closed. Heavy steps walked towards the door.

Heinz shifted his halberd until he was ready to run.

The steps halted and there was a jangling as keys were taken out. The door rattled as it opened slightly only to stop as Shane held it in place.

Heinz took a shaky breath. He needed to wait for the signal.

“Rory? Is that you?” The voice was so delighted and cheerful. “Did your mother put you up to this? I’ve figured it out. I know what I was doing wrong. It’s all going to be okay.”

Louise shifted beside him.

“Rory?” The voice was now fearful.

They banged against the door again and this time Shane let it swing open.

Heinz was running before Shane began to shout.

As he rounded the corner of the house, Shane shoved the man down back with a swing of his shield.

From a distance he looked like anyone else. Only as Heinz got closer was he able to make out what was wrong. The hair was the first thing Heinz noticed. It was bristly and spiked, like the man had scooped a full jar of gel onto it. The jagged mess partially covered the man’s right eye and continued down half of the man’s far and neck.

As he and Louise got closer, the man turned far too quickly to look at them. The other side of his face was melted and scaly. His eyes widened at the sight of them and continued to grow until his eyelids retracted into his face and black pupils overtook everything.

Fear and anger combined and triggering his own Adrenaline augment had never felt so easy.

Phil and Tara raced forward from the other direction. A step behind himself and Louise.

The killer turned back towards Shane, again too quickly, and let out a gut wrenching pained cry mixed with a roar. They swiped forward before Shane could react and slapped him aside. With a grating screech, the killer’s hand left furrows in the metal of Shane's shield and he was thrown back.

But Shane had bought enough time for Heinz to reach the killer. They didn’t even move as Heinz ran into them, halberd spike first. The sharp metal tip bit and the weapon sank into the killer’s stomach, bumping against hard surfaces that shouldn’t exist until his momentum was stopped with the spike only half buried.

The killer opened his mouth and hacked up a dark liquid. They raised their right hand and slammed it down on his halberd. His halberd bent under the impact, the sign and shaft folding under the blow. The force travelled down the shaft to numb Heinz’s hands.

The halberd’s tip slid out of the killer’s side.

Louise slashed her blades across the killer’s neck and back. More sludgy liquid flowed out.

The killer turned, hips remaining still as their upper body twisted ninety degrees. They slapped Heinz’s halberd away as they reached for Louise. She back peddled and placed her blades between herself and the creature.

Heinz tried to slide his numb hands down the shaft and bring the counterweight to bear.

Phil stabbed into the killer’s stomach opposite him. Tara was a second or two behind him. She swung down at the killer’s back but the blow was weak as she had to avoid Phil and its grasping hands.

The killer abandoned his pursuit of Louise and tried to get away. They pushed with their legs and dragged Phil forwards. Phil's feet slipped in the dirt underneath him before his spear point slid out of the creature.

“Why?” It asked them in a broken voice as they all stabbed forward and tried to keep it in place.

Shane screamed over the sound and swung his axe at its head as he charged forward. The killer leaned its head to the side and the axe bit into its shoulder and neck instead.

Heinz jabbed forward with the counterweight at the killer’s leg. The joint smoothly bent away from the blow in the wrong direction.

The killer threw Tara aside with a sickening crack and swung at Shane.

Louise screamed and stabbed one blade into the creature’s lower back. The other stabbed into its neck. Phil jabbed forward again.

The killer weakened with each blow. Soon its strikes were slow enough to be avoided and the fight ended soon after.

Heinz couldn’t say who struck the last blow.

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Malignant Bounty

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The gloopy liquid was the first to disappear. It left a stain behind but the vast majority of it evaporated away. Heinz did his best to ignore the body but it was disappearing too.

Tara and Louise checked them all over but the killer’s sharp talons hadn’t been able to do much damage. The force of its blows however was able to break ribs and Tara’s arm was supported on a bag slung around her front but that was it.

A whimper brought them out of the fugue state. They drew their weapons again and approached the large SUV. Heinz tried and failed to ignore the dried blood on the door handles.

He waited for Louise's signal before opening the boot and jumping to the side.

Weapons were dropped as they picked up the terrified children.

The trek back was harder than it should have been. Heinz’s stomach felt like pins and needles the entire way but he didn’t disturb the two kids he carried against each shoulder. It would have been faster to take the SUV but no one suggested the option.

A team of twenty met them half way back. The team helped lighten their load but none of them walked any easier.