Reyland couldn't hear himself think over the screams of the villagers, and the shrieking howls that now suddenly rose into the air on all sides. He drew his crossbow, aimed it through the gap in the boards on the window and fired blindly. The yelp outside barely registered in his mind as he frantically drew the string back and loaded another bolt.

The window to his right cracked as well, the boards shuddering as the beastly form tried to force its way through. A young woman who had been near the window fell backwards screaming, shards of glass sprinkling the air and ground around her. Reyland was there in a flash, lifting her to her feet.

"Can you walk?" He asked hurriedly.

She nodded, white as a sheet and with shaking limbs. Reyland steadied her as best he could and sent her on her way, where another villager took her hand and helped her to the stairs amidst the chaos.

A nail popped out of the wall behind him, as the boards creaked inwards, the snarling, snapping jaws of a wolf peeking into the room. Reyland's crossbow fired a second later, the bolt puncturing straight through its nose and imbedding itself into the wall behind it. The beast tried to yelp, but its mouth had already filled with blood and the sound came out strangled.

Reyland's shortsword came down on top of it, severing the creatures' entire snout, which dropped to the ground as the creature ripped itself back from the window with a violent, gargling screech.

"Reyland!" Griff called, and the apprentice snapped his attention over to his mentor.

Griff's crossbow, much larger and heavier than Reyland's, loosed with a deep twang, and from the horrific, gasping noise outside, it had struck true on a beast, and knocked it clean away from the window.

"Watch the far wall!" Griff finished, already loading.

On the far wall behind him, both windows were already under siege, and the two horses were in a state of pure panic. Reyland grimaced as soon as he saw it.

They're already this close to breaking through?!

He sprinted over, pushing by dozens of villagers and cots who were still panicking and struggling to get themselves and each other towards the stairs.

The apprentice thrust his sword through the gap in the boards without slowing, planting his foot on the wall to break the momentum. The blade glanced against something outside, but instead of a pained yelp, all he got in response was an irritated growl.

Something in his gut twisted, and he pushed off from the wall not a second too soon. The boards cracked and split inwards, as a jet black wolf head twice the size of his own broke through, the jaws snapping shut inches from his nose. His eyes flashed wide as his heart beat wildly in his chest, realising just how close he had been to death.

His blade sunk into its eye before it could move and the beast howled and thrashed wildly, its neck locked in place by the boards around it. He twisted the blade then drew it back out, before slashing at its throat twice.

As the beast gave its dying cries, the world seemed to move in slow motion for just a moment, the adrenaline assaulting his veins distorting the world around him. Oddly enough, he had just enough time to notice the creatures' blood glowing the same shade of orange as its eyes, as the spray from its neck splattered his front.

At the window next to him, two middle aged villagers stood against the window, shoulders leaning heavily against the boards. The whole window shuddered every few seconds, as the frenzied, excited noises of the beasts outside got louder and more frequent. Reyland didn't even have half a second to shout a warning, not that it would likely have made any difference.

One of the boards near the very bottom burst open, as a narrower than normal black snout broke through. The lips, pulled back unnaturally far in a gruesome smile, revealed two rows of serrated teeth... which instantly snapped shut around the first man's thigh.

The man gasped as the teeth sunk so deep they likely met in the middle of his leg, before the beast yanked its head back outside the window, breaking the man's leg in the center of his thigh so that it bent unnaturally outwards... as if he had a second, reversed knee. The man's leg gave in, the beast's teeth tearing the rest of the way through his flesh as it ripped nearly half of the man's thigh off in a bloody chunk.

He swayed as if in slow motion, a look of shock on his face, before collapsing to the sounds of screaming on all sides.

Reyland was at his side in a heartbeat, dragging him away from the window and into the outreached hands of Arthur, who had rushed to the man's side almost as fast as Reyland. Arthur's face had gone deathly pale looking at the man's leg, but Reyland couldn't waste even another second... he left the man's fate to Arthur and turned back to the window.

The other middle aged man was in shock, but was still holding the boards shut, keeping his legs as far away from the newly made hole as he could. A massive black paw scraped at the hole, clawing the windowsill to gain purchase.

Reyland reached the window and grabbed the man by the collar, before flinging him back from the window right as the other half of the bottom board shattered and another pair of jaws snapped shut inches from his knee. Reyland slashed down at the snout, carving a deep gash into it and forcing it back outside.

"Don't stand close to the openings! Grab a long stick or somethin' and poke them back, but don't get close!" He shouted as loud as he could.

He couldn't pause for even a second, as a third beast's eye glared inside through the top of the window, its head cocked to the side to get a closer look. Taking a wild guess at where its body must have been, Reyland lunged forwards, sliding his blade sideways through a gap in the boards about halfway up, and was rewarded by the satisfying feeling of the blade piercing the creature's ribs.

It snarled and pushed itself back, sliding off his blade and slinking back into the darkness outside. Reyland shuddered as he realised he could barely even see the beast, as its solid black coat turned it into little more than a shadowy outline.

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He took the brief moment to grab his discarded crossbow and sheath his sword, frantically scanning the room.

Griff held the west wall alone. One of the windows was the most securely boarded and had yet to crack, and Griff stood in front of the other, his greatsword in hand, plunging through the gaps in the boards with perfect accuracy. The main church doors were on the south wall, and had yet to budge, but Reyland wasn't so optimistic to assume that would last. The real problem was on the east wall, where he was now. With both windows being breached, it was only a matter o-

Crrack!

The window directly behind him shattered almost entirely, and he was pelted by the splinters of wood as one of the wolves smashed through the boards. He spun around only to find himself staring right into the glowing orange eyes of the largest wolf he had seen yet, its oversized grin bearing down on him. The creature hadn't broken fully through, and half of its body was still outside. Reyland knew that was the only reason he was still alive.

The crossbow bolt punctured its neck, a shot that should have been a clean kill, but the beast only reared back in pain, its screech so loud it caused the nearby villagers to clamp their hands over their ears. It thrashed about in the window, claws tearing the windowsill apart as it struggled to drag itself through the narrow gap in the broken boards.

Reyland dashed in, dropping his crossbow and drawing his shortsword. The beast eyed him angrily as he came, bringing its massive head down in a vicious bite, Reyland only dodging the snap of its jaws by a hair.

His blade plunged upwards, stabbing its full length into the creature's neck. He drew it back out and then plunged it in again, and again, and again, each strike aimed for its jugular.

The wolf shrieked and whipped its head from side to side, battering Reyland's chest so hard it lifted him off the ground and tossed him back-first into the wall. His head cracked back, colliding painfully with a wooden beam just a second before gravity's clutches took him again and he slid down the wall.

He slumped heavily to the side, seeing stars and feeling as though he could scarcely breath. For a moment he wondered if he was going to fall, but then out of the hazy edges of his vision, an arm wrapped around his shoulders.

Reyland felt himself being dragged forwards, and as he slowly came out of his daze, recognized the person half carrying him.

"...Terry?"

The tawny haired young man didn't say a word back, his entire body shaking as he struggled to move Reyland despite the illness crippling him. He only dragged Reyland a few feet from the wall, but as soon as a cot was in reach, he let the two of them fall forwards, so that Reyland crashed down onto it as gently as he could. Terry collapsed to his knees beside him, gasping for breath.

"You... alright?" Terry asked in between pants.

Reyland tried to nod, but winced as a splitting pain in the back of his head protested the movement.

"Aye, I've seen better days though," Reyland mumbled out, pressing his eyes shut tight to try and get the spinning lights to disappear.

Terry opened his mouth to speak, but both young men snapped their attention to the window at the sudden sound of boards creaking. The large wolf, still feebly trying to claw its way inside despite the fountain of glowing orange blood pouring from its neck, was blocking the window. And the beasts outside were clearly unhappy about that, as Reyland and Terry could see them biting at the other wolf. They had latched onto its hinds legs and were violently ripping, tugging and tearing at it, slowly pulling it back outside and out of the way.

Reyland's head cleared, but his stomach dropped. Just how intelligent were these things?

"Terry," he breathed. "Crossbow."

The other young man got the message, lunging forwards and grabbing the wooden weapon from the ground before scrambling back and handing it over.

Reyland drew the string back and felt it click into place, before reaching for another bolt from the small quiver on his hip. His fingers fumbled around in the feathers for just a moment before grabbing one, as with every passing second the beasts tugged the larger wolf another inch back outside.

The years of training he had gone through worked even when his own head did not, and in the back of his mind, he noted that he had only nine bolts left.

He lay back in the cot, still unable to fully move, but sighted carefully down the crossbow at the window. The beasts were hidden, both behind the remaining boards and the body of the larger wolf, but it still wasn't impossible...

A flash of glowing orange eyes was all he needed, and he loosed the bolt. The beast that had leaped up high to bite into the stuck wolf's upper shoulder dropped instantly, the bolt puncturing the skull right at its temple. It didn't even make a sound before it collapsed.

Reyland's body worked without him telling it to, bracing his foot in the metal stirrup at the end of the crossbow and pulling the string back until it clicked into place. He didn't even notice he was doing it, muscle memory guiding his actions while his vision blurred and spun.

Almost all of the villagers were downstairs now. The ones that remained, like Terry, were doing everything they could to help keep the bloodthirsty beasts at bay. Guarding the other window on the east wall next to him, were two old men that Reyland could vaguely remember. They were the old men who had been the first to stand up, and who had helped him and Terry move the beam out to the front doors. In his addled state of mind, Reyland noted that the smaller of the two men was wielding a hunting spear, although Reyland couldn't remember ever seeing one around before. The larger of the two men had a knife not unlike Griff's; oversized to the point of nearly being a shortsword. Both men's weapons were dripping with the thick, glowing orange blood of the beasts, but they at least seemed uninjured for now.

It was at that exact moment that things went from bad to worse.

A single howl, so loud it drowned out every other sound, split the night air. Reyland's hands instantly clapped over his ears, his already aching head now screaming in protest.

Every other beast went silent. The assault on the windows stopped completely, as the dark forms outside backed away from the church. Everyone inside went silent as well, the shouting and clattering of weapons all paused as if frozen in time.

The beastly call outside faded, until the only sound left was the frantic whinnies of the two horses near the entrance. They were the only creatures not paralyzed, and they strained restlessly against the leather leads that tied them to their posts. Even from across the church Reyland could see the whites of their wide eyes as the animals struggled to run.

From outside the front doors came the creak of something massive stepping onto the wooden stairs, and the scratch of claws digging through old wood.

The horses caught scent of whatever it was outside, and their frantic attempts to escape turned violent, the leather lines digging into their flesh as they screamed and pulled away from the doors with all their might. Reyland's hand shook as he tightened it around the crossbow, slowly, slowly raising it to point at the center of the massive doors.

There was a deep rush of air, as the beast outside sniffed the doors. A few stray, dry leaves near the entrance scattered, blown back skittering along the floors like insects on the run.

Slowly, something utterly massive pushed against the doors. They groaned, the old wood creaking dangerously as they pressed back against the barricades, but the doors cracked open little by little.

As the doors parted, it appeared at first as if there was nothing behind them. Just a shadowy, hazy mist, as if they were looking straight out at the night sky.

Then the beast shifted until a single, massive orange eye peeked through. Reyland's heart skipped a beat as he realised the eye was higher up than the head of his horse, and the creature was still on all four legs.

Somewhere behind him a single villager screamed, and time unfroze as all hell broke loose.