Berndt woke up on the cold hard ground. The first thing he saw was the burning inferno of what used to be the cart he and his father and brothers were riding on. Hearing muffled voices, he turned to the right to see the guards frantically shouting while brandishing their muskets, a sharp noise signaled that one of the guards had fired his weapon, this was followed by subsequent shots until the air was filled with sonata of of gunshots and, yelling and groans. 

Berndt finally found the strength to push himself off the ground, his memories of the events leading up to it still foggy. He clutched his head as he looked around for his family only to see them in another cart further away from them, each sporting burns, diets and cuts of their own mirroring Berndt. Berndt tried to call out to them only for his voice to he drown by those of the panicked soldiers.

He tried to move towards them but felt as if his legs weighed 100s of pounds. A faint hope blossomed when he saw one of his older brothers notice him before frantically calling out to their father. He began moving as quickly as he could until he saw the sad, pitying look in his eyes. Berndt then watched in horror as his father turned around and and said something to driver before the latter promptly began driving the cart away in a hurry. Berndt could only search for his voice his father and brothers left him for dead. 

The world seemed to stop as Berndt's mind was filled with despair as the memories came flooding back.

It was at this moment a guard finally took note of him as he was violently jerked to the side, now facing a middle aged man as he screamed at him. His words fell on deaf ears as Berndt was still processing his family's betrayal. That was until the same guard slapped him across the face.

Berndt was immediately pulled out of his depressive stupor as he finally registered the guards words. 

"Damn it lad!! Are you daft? The dead are overwhelming us. Grab a weapon and start shooting!!" He yelled before pointing at a rifle lying on the ground. A dead body of a guard lay next to it, engraved with a large three pronged slash that had ripped through the skull and flesh of the guards face, leaving his face a bloody, fleshy mess with one of his eyes balls dangling of the mangled remains of the body. 

Berndt could only look in horror while the guard grabbed the musket before going through his dead comrades pockets with and fishing out a handful of bullets. He then shoved both of them into Berndt's hands before pointing at the makeshift barricades the guards had put up in a haste.

Like clockwork, he jogged to the barricade before checking the musket, making sure that it was properly loaded all the while trying to keep the image of the dead guard off his mind. Once it was clear that the musket was loaded, Berndt looked aimed it into the pitch black forest that was being barely illuminated by the firey remains of the cart and the torches being carried by the guards. 

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Then suddenly, there was silence. And Berndt lookee to his sides and saw that the guards had gotten quiet, each bearing down at the forest, searching for what was about to come. It was in this silence that the gravity of what was about to transpire came over to Berndt's mind. He, a son of a farmer was about to face horrors beyond his imagination  alongside a handful of  caravan guards who were no where near trained to combat such things.Tears threatened to fall out of his eyes as he thought of the possibility of him dying here, mauled by the beasts.

Like they say, death doesn't come with fanfare. Instead it comes with a whisper. Or in this case a rustle. Several pairs of eyes immediately snapped at that location Another rustle followed soon after, then another, and another. Another bout of pindrop silence followed as the guards stared at the trees and bushes waiting for the ensuing attack. It lasted only 10 seconds this time, but for the people fighting, it felt like an eternity. Several pairs of crimson glowing eyes snapped open, and one of the guards shot out of panic. It was then that all hell broke loose. The eyes advanced to the barricade in a flash, revealing the horrors it belonged to. 

They were monsters borne from those who had died of the plague. Any visage of their former humanity was shattered due the grotesque miasma that covered there bodies, turning fingers into claws, morphing teeth into fangs, skin into a dark hide. Several of them had large cuts now covered by the miasma marking those that had being previous victims of these beasts. The victims had long joined the ranks of their murderers. These beasts are  called Howlers as move in packs and howl to communicate with one another, much like wolves.

A barrage of bullets followed as the guards fired causing several of the 4 of the Howlers to fall dead on the ground. The rest continued to their advance shrugging bullets from the guards until their came near the barricade. They then lunged at the guards at unbelievable speed catching several of them off guard before they could switch rifles or reload. By the time those Howlers fell to the blades and bayonets of the guards, almost a third of the guards had been killed. 

A loud howl suddenly echoed from within the forest, signalling the arrival of the next wave. Several guards broke down upon hearing it as they abandoned their posts. More and more followed suit until eventually, all the guards were running away into the forest away from the Howlers.

Berndt ran with tears in his eyes even as he heard the guards being mauled down by the faster Howlers. He ran several hundred yards into the forest before looking back only to watch in horror as an unusually burly Howler ran at him with all fours. Berndt redoubled his efforts even though he knew in his mind that it was useless. He was now audibly sobbing as death seemed to get closer and closer.

It was then his foot caught onto a root sending him crashing down onto the ground. Still clutching the musket, he turned around just in time to see the Howlers lunge at him, its mouth open ready to rip out his throat. Almost on instinct, Berndt raised the musket, bayonet pointing right at the creature open mouth. The bayonet caught the creature on the roof of its mouth  causing it to flail in pain, it clawed Berndt's arm only for him for pull the trigger.  A loud bang resounded through the surroundings as the as the Howlers stopped flailing. The last this Berndt saw was the body of the Howler crashing on top of him as he lost consciousness.