Days became weeks and weeks turned into months. Six to be exact. I’ve crossed three states and a desert, constantly looking over my shoulder, never staying too long in one place. In the beginning I stayed inside populated areas and out in plain sight. I figured that it would be easier to evade them through high traffic areas as well as prevent them from doing anything too daring. But, the organization was well connected and reached into many government services like the police. Soon, I was a fugitive again. My face plastered all over the news and wanted posters. I had no choice but to move through the woodlands and deserts. I’m used to being off the grid, so it was nothing I wasn’t use to. But, as soon as I got off the grid, the attacks came. Vindicators, Inquisitors and all kinds of named branches of the organization came after me. It was as if this was the intent all along. To keep me isolated and out of the public’s eye. I thought of turning myself in, but then I figured that I would be walking right into their hands.

But whatever fancy name and title they had, they weren’t as fast or strong as a skinwalker and any other demonic entities for that matter. At the end of the day, they were just humans with some sharp weapons. Some had armor on them, which was laughable and stupid. It just made them heavier and easy targets. At one point they set fire to the forest I was hiding in, figured that they would smoke me out. But fire was my element, and I was too well experienced in using it to get caught by it. When that failed, they went old school. They sent countless numbers of agents after me. Waves upon waves of hunters and fanatics came hunting for me and that started to pay off.

Each day had become a blur of evading capture, engaging in desperate battles, and seeking refuge in the most obscure and forgotten corners of the country. Days seemed to become longer, and I was running out of mental capacity to cope. I was lean and worn from the constant physical exertion and lack of proper nourishment. Sleep had become a luxury, and my nightmares had returned to plague me once again. The constant stress and fear were taking their toll and my determination was now wavering with each confrontation, pushing me to the limits of my physical and mental endurance. I was about to break, and I could feel it. My only chance was to find the other temples and gain leverage, a bargaining chip to coax them to stand down.

I found out that the Templars didn’t have control over all the Temples of Solomon. It turned out that there were a quite a few temples scattered around the globe, all containing parts of the Keys of Solomon. Some of those temples were built here in the “New World’, but the organization was unable to recover all of them as some were lost. So, I made it my mission to finding one of those lost temples. But first I needed more information.

I decided that I needed to lure more Templar descendants to me to get to the information I needed. The other Vindicators and Inquisitors were useless and were just foot soldiers like the hunters. The captains and leaders, on the other hand, mostly turned out to be Templar descendants and wore strange medallions that symbolized their heritage. Way to go to paint a target on yourself. So, I decided to hunt for the captains, and I had one in my eyesight right at this moment.

Hiding behind some bushes in my ghillie suit I stared up ahead at a party of Templar Vindicators searching the area for traces of my whereabouts. But little did they know that the makeshift shelter with some of my belongings that they were rummaging into was a decoy. I looked upon as one of them found the boobie-trap I setup for them to find and then walk right into the second real trap. Their bold strides became poison and triggered the Molotov trap to ignite and explode into flames as two of the vindicators caught fire and had to quickly rid themselves of the cloak they were wearing. Both were able to save themselves pretty much unscathed as they took steps back away from the trap area only to lose their footing into some very sharp punji stick traps. Screams echoed through the forest as the other vindicators gathered around the ones stepped on the horrible foot traps. I watched on as their faces turn blue and began to spew foam out of their mouths. The poison on the punji tips had started to kick in and it was clear that the calm stable, yet fragile mentality of the remaining Vindicators had started to crack.

I slowly twisted my hand that is currently on the trigger of an assault rifle with a silencer attached. My trigger finger slowly squeezes at the trigger as I take better aim through the scope. Fire. Muffled gunshots zip through the air as they hit their intended targets. More screams echo out through the forest as the remaining Vindicators startled and confused start to scramble for cover. But my trigger-happy finger squeezes tightly, letting the rifle rip a hail of bullets towards the scampering fanatics. The bullets hit the legs and feet of the Vindicators as they fall to the ground belting out their agony and pain. I quickly stand up from my position and start to sprint towards the fallen victims, my Alpha blade and axe in had I quickly arrive at the nearest fallen Vindicator and slash through his neck. My axe falls on another’s head as my blade soars through the air in search of the next victim. I quickly look around and see two of the remaining vindicators limping towards opposite directions. Smart, but not smart enough. I throw my axe at one of the vindicators and start running towards the other with my Blade. I hear a sharp and loud scream from behind me as I approached the other escaping Vindicator with relative ease.

“N… no … please!”

*slash*

Sorry. The last time I let one of them go because of their helpless plea of mercy I almost got killed for it. The bastard brought back an army to my position soon after. Lucky for me, I was out setting traps in a different grid, and I caught wind of their approach from a mile away. I won’t take anymore unnecessary chances. I knelt down beside the now deceased fanatic as I checked his neck for a medallion. I could feel the warmth of the body slowly leaving the corpse as I pulled out the metallic ornament that ran around his neck. He had a silver one with a pyramid that had an eye in the center. The all-seeing eye or the ’Eye of Providence’. It was a symbol of illumination and a mark of an occult society that turned out to be a sect of the surviving Templar descendants. But this was not the one I was looking for. I turn around and walk over to the other Vindicator laying dead and pulled my axe out of his back. Poor bastards. Brainwashed to follow a cause that died and was buried long ago. I knelt down again to check for the medallion on this neck. Damn, same medallion. I looked at the other remaining six Vindicators. Five of them all had the same occult medallions. Probably from the same sect. But then I struck gold with the last Vindicator. The leader of the group from the way he ordered everyone else around. I checked his neck and found a gold medallion, a chalice with a sword sticking out from the top. He was a guardian. The chalice represented the holy grail, which the Templars were rumored to have guarded and the top artifact the Vatican church is sorely after. I was told from a source that there is a legend that one of the Temples of Solomon may be the resting place of the grail itself. This one was a descendant of one of the inner circles of the Knights Templar order. A grail guardian. I started to rummage around searching every pocket and body for clues or information.

“Yes!”

As I said. I struck gold. This one had paper documents and a small notebook hidden in his undergarments. It was full of coded writing in various languages as I could recognize a few, including English and Hebrew. I’ll get on this later. I tucked the documents and the medallion carefully away and started to gather the bodies in one place. Never leave corpses in skinwalker tainted forests. I found a nest not too far away from here and destroyed it. It was small and had one adult and two younglings, but I knew there were others around. I pulled them towards a huge hole I had dug up while I was building this decoy shelter. Placing all the bodies into the hole I dosed them in gas and set it ablaze. They’ll burn for hours but it won’t be easy to put the fire out even with fire fighting gear. I made sure of that.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I glanced at the burning corpses one last time before turning away to start evacuating the premises. It won’t be long until others will come searching for them. Better get out of this grid all together.

There was nothing much to pack as I intended to travel light. Some crucial supplies, tools and hardware in a single backpack was all I needed. Quickly moving out of the woods and into the open fields I made my way south towards the desert. I had to cross the border and into the adjacent state as soon as possible. Staying one step ahead of the chase was no easy task and every effort counted. The only downside is that the desert plains will leave me exposed and nowhere to lay low or hide. I pulled out my map and contemplated what to do next. By the looks of it, I had two choices. Either make a run for it and quickly cut across the desert and into the next state or make a detour and head into the nearest city and town to slowly make my way towards the border and cross over undercover. I glanced at the map again. It was a few days’ walk at least, to get to the bordering state and the large desert area was a problem as it provided little to no cover. I would be exposed, and my guerilla warfare tactics would not be efficient enough to fight nor slow any of those fanatics. As I folded the map away I looked around and then up at the sky. A little after high noon. Better get moving or I’ll run into trouble, human or otherwise. I packed my things and started to clean off traces as I made my way out of the grid and down into the mountain trails, heading towards the next destination. The trail became lighter with high forestry as I lost cover fast. As I became more exposed my pace became faster, desperate to get into some cover. Hours passed and I met hikers heading up towards the way I came down from. At a quick glance I counted three, two male and a female. I wasn’t looking for an interaction, so I kept my distance and quickly passed them by. The two up front nodded towards me as a friendly greeting, I nodded back as not to take less attention. No interaction tends to gain more attention as people tend to try and figure out what the ‘problem’ was. Minimal interaction was the best way to avoid more attention in many cases including this one. As I expected the three hikers kept moving on and I did so as well. But, the interaction was so natural and with my desperation to get out of there as quickly as possible, I was the one that made the mistake of failing to check them out more thoroughly. But, my instincts kicked in and started to ring alarms in my head. I turned my head in a casual manner to take a glance at the hikers I just passed. As I turned my sight towards them my eyes locked in with four pairs of gleaming eyes. The hikers where standing where I passed them, staring at me. Then I realized that something was off about them. It was those glaring eyes, they were emotionless. Like eyes of dead corpses. I stared back and slowly walked up to them as I tried hard to make a smile.

“Hey there.”

I blurted out. I wanted to keep their eyes locked onto mine as I slowly reached one hand back for my axe. As expected, there was no answer. They just stared at me like they were looking beyond me. A lifeless eerie emptiness reflected from those windows to the soul. But I could see nothing. There was nothing within those eyes. No life, no soul, just an empty void that pierced through me like scanners of a cold machine. My fake smile turned to a genuine smirk and then into a sinister grin.

“Fancy meeting you here…”

There was no reply nor a spark of curiosity from those eyes vacant of life. The hikers just stared at me. As I gave another smirk towards them, one of the male hikers smiled an eerie smile and gave a slight node towards me. That small gesture that I had neglected due to my haste and negligence shot a shiver of anger done my spine. As I got close, mere one or two step distance from the two males, I glared directly into their eyes. The odd and deformed smile now gone, the male hiker suddenly lunged at me with a sudden burst of agility and strength. But I already figured out their identities, their cover blown. I pulled out my hand from behind with the axe tightly gripped. As the hiker lunged at me I quickly sneaked a peak at the other male hiker while plunging my axe towards the other hiker’s neck. The axe cuts clean through the neck and the hiker drops dead. As the dead hiker’s body started to deform and rot I looked on ahead and glanced at the remaining two hikers.

“Can’t believe I almost missed a damn Skinwalker right in front of my eyes. But mistakes can be mended. You got my full undivided attention now.”

I proceed to walk towards the remaining two hikers as the male hiker continued to exchange glances between me and the corpse I just slain. The killed off hiker had now completely changed into a pale skinned Skinwalker as its rotting stench polluted the air around it. As my footsteps drew nearer to the other male hiker, he… no it, also lunged at me. Funny how they’re always predictable. I again swung my axe as I did with the first one as the hiker now full changed into a larger sized Skinwalker, jumped at me with inhuman speed. As the tip of my axe touched the Skinwalker’s neck, it quickly twisted its body to somehow evade my swing mid-air. As it did so I saw the huge claw like hand swing from underneath as it twisted around in the air. But I had my fair share of hunting Skinwalkers and wasn’t about to make amateur mistakes. Instead of pulling back in an attempt to dodge the claws, I rushed towards the Skinwalker as I pulled up my left hand holding the Alpha Blade high in the air. As the claw swung with vicious speed, it cut through air as I leaped into its open torso, allowing me to plunge my blade deep into its heart. There was a moment of terrifying scream and a hint of agony that kind of took me by surprise. These creatures never show any kind of real emotion. They act the emotion of their last victim, but without heart. But this, this was something new. Although it was for a split second and a very faint and weal one, I clearly heard the Skinwalker let out an emotion of agony. Damn. It pissed me off to think that this Skinwalker was disguising itself as a human for so long that it had started to enter its metamorphosis stage. It was on the verge of forming real thought and emotions like humans. It was becoming an Alpha variant and if it consumed enough human brains it would evolve into a higher form of Skinwalker altogether. A disgusting doppelganger, an entity that could mimic real human emotion and access to utilize the memories of its victims to disguise itself perfectly. Masquerading as its victim. Good thing I met the thing before it went any further down that road. As I cleared my thoughts my eyes turned to focus on the one remaining female hiker. I glanced over at her as our eyes locked I could see genuine fear in her eyes. I could now see the trembling fear she was hiding as her eyes teared up in signs of relief. She took a few steps towards me but then took one back in hesitation and suspicion. Shew was cautious.

“A… are you … are you human?”

“I am”

See stared at me intensely as tears ran down both her cheeks. But she just stood their not daring to come any closer.

“Are you?”

I could see she was taken back when I asked her the same question. She had a puzzling look of confusion.

“I… I honestly don’t know. No, I’m human. I know who I am.”

“You sure?”

“I know who I am!”

She shouted with a hinted mix of desperation and anger. I looked at her and then into her eyes. I took a step forward as she took one back.

“Stay away! Don’t come any closer!”

But her warnings fell on deaf ears as I took swift strides right up to her and before she could react I grabbed her by her arms and pulled her close up to my face. I Stared directly into her eyes. I pulled out my blade and leaned it close to her face as she squirmed in dread. I found that the Alpha Blade could bring out a part of the Skinwalker’s true nature when in close proximity. But as I looked into her eyes I saw nothing but clear green pupils glancing back at me with teary water layers forming.

“Your human.”

I told her as I let her go and took steps back. She was startled but looked back at me while clearly fighting back her tears.

“Are you sure? How can you be sure?”

“I’m sure. I have my ways.”

As I turned around to get back on my way she called from behind me asking what she should do. I just simply said “You’ll figure it out.” Without turning back at her. I left her like that. I wasn’t in a position to aid her in any way, not with these fanatics trailing behind me. Besides, they’d probably try and get her to get to me if they thought she was linked to me in any way. Better stay away for her own good. I stepped up my pace to make up for lost time dealing with the Skinwalkers. But then I stopped as a single thought hit me. I turned towards the hiker as she looked back.

“Burn the bodies.”

With that I continued to walk on.