As the sun settled, and the night turned pitch black. Nick hung around Ryan as they stayed on the second floor of the pub overlooking the town. Nick kept quiet, not feeling the need to speak or move around. Though that didn’t stop Ryan from making a few dad jokes to lighten the mood. However, through all of that humour, Nick could tell Ryan was scared as well, and he expressed that fear with a list of horrendous jokes.
One soldier fired a flare into the air. Not just to illuminate the town but to also alert the monster that they were there. The Unit came for a fight, and they will let the creature know they are ready for one.
‘Wow, shiny.’ Ryan said as he pointed at the flare. ‘So, what has five toes but isn’t your foot?’
‘What?’ Nick groaned.
‘My foot.’ Ryan chuckled and oinked to himself. Proud of his joke while Nick sat there in frustration. So, they kill monsters, what a fucking joke. ‘Hey, so which one is faster, hot or cold?’ Nick wanted to give a scientific answer, but Ryan cut him off before he could say anything. ‘It is hot because you can catch a cold.’ Ryan laughed again.
Nick rubbed his head and wondered if dying was a better option than listening to Ryan’s jokes. He could tell him to shut up, but he didn’t want to push his luck with a guy that had a big gun.
A siren went off at the south of the town, Ryan looked down his scope while everyone ran into positions. No one needed to investigate, they already knew that it finally came. The siren continued to blare until it shut itself off, making everyone wait for the creature to reveal itself.
Everyone turned as the creature growled in the darkness. Someone pulled out their flare gun and fired it into the air, revealing the furious beast. It crashed its shoulder against one of the armoured cars, crumbling the two-tonne war machine while it flew to the other side of the town and obliterated the house in front of it. The gunner on the turret splattered into a red paste.
Everyone fired their weapons at the creature, but nothing could pierce its hide. It leaped to the top of the sentry tower to tear apart the soldier on top. Ryan shot at the creature, only to miss it as it jumped down to kill another soldier by cutting them in half with one swipe.
Nick couldn’t believe how unbelievably fast the monster was, how it took a second for the creature to close the gap in a single bound. He could’ve easily believed the monster was faster than a bullet. The speed made it difficult for Ryan to get a clear shot.
More and more soldiers succumbed to the beast. Nick watched as the simple scratch of its claws made a woman seize up with foam frothing from her mouth. She died soon after. He watched how it snapped bone and crushed skulls like an egg. Yet what was remarkable to Nick was no one tried to run away, no one panicked, and no one gave up even if their deaths were imminent. It was a horror they had no hope of winning against. Yet they fought on like the world depended on it.
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The creature slammed its paw on one soldier, collapsing their chest with blood spilling from their mouth. Though it gave Ryan a clearing for he was able to fire at the creature’s right arm. The creature screeched, as its glowing white blood spilled onto the ground and dissolved the corpse. Besides attacking Ryan, it ran back into the darkness. The monster was surprised that they found a way to hurt it, but the creature would come back to get its revenge.
‘Shit!’ Ryan said under his breath as he marched out of the pub and walked to the only armoured car that wasn’t decimated during the attack.
Nick followed after him, worried as to why he would suddenly leave the safety of the pub and walk into the open field. ‘What the fuck are you doing?’
‘I am going to call for help.’ He calmly replied, unfazed by the mutilated corpses of his 12 comrades.
‘We should run back, it’s still out there!’
‘Nope, it is running back home to lick its wounds. It won’t come back until tomorrow. Which I say today is a mission accomplished.’ Ryan replied as he set up the radio.
Nick stared at him, dumbfounded at the whole thing. This is a bloody success? Is he fucking mad?
‘Dogma this is Unit 511, message, over.’ Ryan said into the headpiece, the speakers blared static followed by a high-pitched wave. ‘Dogma this is Unit 511, we have been attacked by the monster. I am currently the only survivor of my unit; civilian is still alive as well. I will submit the combat footage once I collect the cameras, so far, I suspect it is what you theorised, over.’
The radio bleeped before an emotionless voice responded, ‘understood. Butterfly Legion will arrive at your location, Unit 247 will assist. Do you require supplies, over?’
‘Negative, high-calibre ammunition seems to do the job. Though I do suggest backup to bring blessed or enchanted ammunition to combat this threat, over.’
‘Acknowledged, will pass the message on. Good hunting, out.’
Ryan put the radio down before he looked at Nick with a smile. ‘Good news! You and I are going to recover everyone’s body cams so we can…’ he whistled as he raised his index finger to the sky, ‘show the footage to my friends at Dogma. Don’t worry, I’ll even tell you their names and life story while we salvage anything of use. You ready?’
He finished by patting the back of a mortified Nick.