June 5, 2016
“Alright. Louise. Danny. You got everything?” Gabriel stood at the cemetery gates, peering into the dark. They were here. Ghouls. There was no mistaking the scent of old meat and vinegar. Judging by the mess, too, the infestation was bad. There had to be at least three.Thank god the things couldn’t breed.
For a split second, Gabriel almost called the whole thing off. He wasn’t too sure Danny would be ready for this. With Chuck, or maybe even Lee, they’d have no trouble taking these things out one-by-one. Tonight it was him, Louise, and Danny. Between Danny’s inexperience and Louise’s poor choice of shoes tonight, their chances of a successful hunt were that much worse.
“Guys?” Gabriel called out impatiently, “you going to leave me to take care of this shit on my own?”
“Hurry up, Danny, we don't have all night.” Louise said, coming around the side of the truck parked in the grass by the gates less than twenty feet away.
The green eyed, skinny young man in question grumbled softly as he came around after her, loaded down with weapons, which he dropped to the ground in front of Gabriel.
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed, “is that how you treat your tools?” He knelt down to pick through them, hefting up an aluminum bat to toss it towards Louise. Just in case, he pocketed an extra knife for himself. He had a Glock 20 at the ready in his holster, just in case things got a little too nasty. On hunts it was generally a good idea to use blunt weapons, the kind that didn’t leave too much evidence behind. Literal smoking guns would only get them all into a needless mess with the police. Some law enforcement were well-aware of what they did. Most didn’t.
“Pick your poison, Danny,” Gabriel advised, standing up, “next time I tell you to stock the truck, though, maybe don’t empty out the entire supply closet.” It was more than overkill, but at least Danny was enthusiastic. He had that going for him.
“Tell me what to bring next time, I’m still learning.” As Danny spoke he looked down at the pile, “What do you think I should use?”
“That’s up to you,” Gabriel replied, “whatever feels natural. Pick what you think you’ve got the best shot with. Ghouls are soft. They’re like sacks of rotten fruit with bones. So they go down pretty quick. It’s gonna get nasty--” He paused, noting the lost look on Danny’s face already. “Are you sure you don’t want to sit this one out? I can call for Chuck and just have you do a rain-check with something easier. Maybe an evil doll? I’m sure there’s a nest of alien eggs bound to pop up next month. Breeding season is almost here.”
Louise rolled her eyes, tossing the bat to Danny, “I’ll just get the crossbow from the truck. I don’t know why I thought I’d get a break tonight.” Her faith in Danny’s chances tonight was clearly as bleak as Gabe’s. She was hoping to just keep watch, but that wasn’t going to work. Greenhorn nights rarely ended well, hence why they had to hire a newbie every summer to fill the ranks. No deaths yet, but plenty of lost limbs.
Danny fumbled slightly with the bat, but managed not to drop it, “thanks.”
Gabriel cleared his throat, “alright, now that we’ve got everything, it’s time to get our asses in there,” he nodded towards the gate, kneeling to scoop up the remaining weapons before walking back to the truck to toss them into the bed. He paused to get a glimpse of himself in the side-view mirror. His poor sleep schedule lately was catching up to him. He had bags under his eyes just like Chuck’s right now, and he desperately needed a trim. His jet-black hair was getting long enough to curl. After this pay-out, he was going to shave, have a hot shower, and stay in bed for at least a week.
Danny and Louise stayed close behind him as they moved past the gates and towards what would likely be a long night.
Louise tossed her long red hair over her shoulder before cursing softly, “why couldn't they live in, I don't know, somewhere less muddy? It's going to ruin my shoes.”
“You should’ve brought sneakers,” Gabriel whispered irritably. His gaze settled on something at the foot of a marble angel reaching towards them through the misty night. He couldn’t quite make it out, but it was red. Thick.
“Keep behind me,” he advised, creeping forward. As he picked his way over thick patches of unkempt weeds, just barely managing to avoid catching his foot on a fallen gravestone, he could almost taste the stench of iron and bile in the air.
Intestines. Blood on the angel’s sandals. These ghouls weren’t just eating the freshly dead. They were killing people.
Danny swallowed hard, “I think I'm gonna be sick.” He brought a hand up to cover his mouth.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“You’ll get used to it,” Louise whispered, squeezing his shoulder reassuringly.
Gabriel edged even closer towards the statue. It seemed as if her outstretched hands were beckoning, and by some horrible twist of fate this guardian of the dead had become a harbinger. A grim reminder of what happened to those who disturbed the sacred peace here.
Gabriel held up a hand for silence, “Danny,” he hissed, “duck down. Louise, cover me.” The smell was indescribable. Worse than rotten eggs slathered on a pair of dirty boxers. Worse than a skunk barbeque. Worse than Chuck’s feet. That was a stench he never thought anything could rival.
Streaks of blood on the statue wrapped around to the other side, where a trail of chewed up organ meat stood in the wet grass. A morbid path Hansel and Gretel wouldn’t have conceived of, leading all the way up to a mausoleum in the very heart of the graveyard. The sealed door had been pulverized, large chunks of masonry piled up at the steps.
“Holy. Shit.” Gabriel cursed. This was bad. Really bad.
Then out of the fog, a ghoul launched itself at Danny. Louise just barely managed to shove him out of the way so she could slam one of her deadly heels right into its eye with a sickening ‘Splorch!’
It was like an over-ripened grape that had been waiting to burst, and the howls that followed quickly summoned the ghoul’s companions from inside the desecrated mausoleum.
“Louise,” Gabriel hissed, as he tried to remain calm, just barely managing to avoid being tackled by one of the monsters, “you’ve got a crossbow, maybe you should try to fucking use it!!”
“He was too close, asshole!” She shouted back. There was little point in keeping their voices low now that they’d been spotted.
The one-eyed ghoul with Louise’s shoe still firmly stuck in a socket had meanwhile fallen to the ground, spasming and shrieking. Somehow it still reached out with clawed hands to try and grasp at Danny’s ankle. He, in turn, finally snapped out of his fearful stupor just in time to heft up his bat and beat the ghoul’s face into a raw, greenish-red mush. Someone would have to teach Danny about the term ‘overkill’.
Gabriel would have said something, but he was a little preoccupied, rounding on the other two ghouls with his gun at the ready and knife drawn.
Danny was still screaming and swinging his bat. His dramatics had luckily gotten their attention long enough for Gabriel to get a shot off, straight to the chest of one ghoul, which collapsed to the ground in agony. The other dropped into a crouch to launch itself at Gabriel. Too fast for him to shoot again, he knew he’d have to take his chances with the knife.
The creature was inches from his face when it went down hard, a crossbow bolt through its head.
Louise panted for breath, leaning against a nearby headstone, “you're welcome.”
Gabriel lowered his gun, rolled his eyes, and tucked his knife into his belt. “You could’ve been a little faster; bastard almost nailed me.” He bit back a laugh when she responded in turn by flipping him the bird.
Gabriel looked over at Danny, “for fuck’s sake, it’s dead already!”
Danny gave his ghoul one last good whack, and all of the strength seemed to go out of his legs as he fell to his knees. He was covered in ghoul innards. Head to toe.
“I was fast enough.” Louise said, grabbing Gabriel’s attention again, not even batting an eye at Danny, “you try aiming with one shoe on.”
“Don’t need to,” Gabriel replied, “I’m not the idiot who brings stilettos to a ghoul fight.” Never mind those heels had probably saved Danny’s life.
Danny began to frantically pat his stomach and chest, “oh god, oh god, okay. No bites. I’m fine. Didn’t bite me. It didn’t bite me!” He was babbling now.
Louise sighed, tugging off her other shoe and walking over to him, “You're fine, pull yourself together,” she laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, “Danny, you're good. You did a good job tonight. Maybe not a great job, but you’re still in one piece,” she looked at Gabriel, “and you owe me a new pair of shoes.”
That nearly floored him. “What?! How is this my fault, Louise? I told you not to wear them!” Gabriel snapped back at her.
“I was supposed to go on a date! You interrupted it and didn't give me time to change. It's not like I keep tennis shoes in my car like you do.”
“With Lee?” Gabriel demanded incredulously, “he’s got clients to talk to anyway, there’s way too much work right now for either of you to play around tonight.”
Louise rolled her eyes at him in response, offering a hand to Danny. “Come on, no point in sticking around now. We’re done here.”
Danny took Louise’s hand, nearly stumbling into her as he regained his footing, “that was--” he shook his head, “are-are all hunts like that?”
Gabriel smirked, digging into his jacket pocket to pull out a handkerchief and wipe some stray blood from his face that had splattered around them during Danny’s freak-out with the bat. “Most things don’t smell as bad as ghouls. They don’t tend to go down as easy, either. Other than that, pretty much. Sometimes they like to talk first, gloat a little, but don’t count on it. We’re just food with guns to these things.”
“Ghouls are good to start with. I let Lee and Gabe deal with the vampires, but there don’t seem to be a lot of them hanging around these days.” Louise replied, looking forlornly at her ruined shoes before starting the walk back to the truck.
Danny followed her, while Gabe lingered behind to survey the scene they were about to leave behind. Someone had to clean the mess up. “Hey!” He shouted after Louise, “who’s turn was it to do the trash this week? Chuck’s?”
“Yeah!” She shouted back, “not that you can get him to do much.” She mumbled. Chuck was a lazy son of a bitch unless he wanted to do something. He’d have to be pretty hammered for them to even begin to talk him into cleaning up ghoul guts.
Gabriel rubbed at his temples, “there’s trash bags in the truck, right? Pretty sure we brought trash bags. Didn’t I tell you to grab those too, Danny?” It was going to be a long night. Pretty much like almost every damn night since he’d finished high school and committed to hunting full-time.
Gabriel fished a small pocket mirror out of his jacket pocket just so he could examine his face and neck, make sure none of the gore or blood had gotten into any unnoticed cuts. He cringed, picking a piece of flesh out of his short black hair and flicking it to the ground. Everything looked fine. Maybe his eyes were a little tired-looking, stark blue contrasting with the bags under his eyelids, but nothing some decent sleep wouldn’t cure. If he could make the time. Better exhausted than dead. Or undead.