Once the countdown reached zero a huge shockwave erupted around us, and a myriad of lights flashed into existence 100 or so meters away entrapping us all.

I'm not sure what I expected to step out from the light, but animals resembling a cross between a gremlin and a hairless hyena were not one of them. Especially not hundreds of them in all directions. It was going to be a slaughter. We could all feel it, something deep within us all recognized that we were all going to die.

After all, that is what a culling was.

Two things happened very quickly after that. First, the line of Grem-Hyenas charged us yipping and baying for our blood with poorly concealed glee. the ground shook with a chaotic cadence of our approaching death, and there was nothing we-I could do about it. faced with the wave of death coming at them, the people at the very edges had a choice to make. stand and fight and die to the charging monsters. Or turn around and try to get someone else's body between them and the nightmarish creatures.

In the end, there was only one real choice.

So there Kate and I were, deep enough in that we wouldn't die to the initial clash. But far enough out to watch in growing horror as more and more eyes turned towards us. To watch in despair as the animal part of the human brain takes over. And see the exact moment that they stop considering you 'a fellow human' and just 'meat in the way'.

"Kate, we need to move deeper. we need to move deeper now!" I whispered to her with as much urgency I can muster. I grab her hand and begin to shove my way back further into the group without ever taking my eyes off of the approaching horde, or the people in front of us. But before we could make it two steps the first man makes a break for it, taking his hammer in hand he cracks it over the head of the woman directly behind him. And like a broken dam or the proverbial domino.

all hell breaks loose.

Suddenly a wall of flesh and desperation slams into those in front of us. An explosion of motion forces me into the man behind me, knocking the wind out of me and nearly my sword as well. We redouble our efforts to get as far away from the bloodshed as possible but at this point, it's no use, we are packed too tight! we are shoulder to shoulder, back to chest. And what little space there is left is quickly getting squeezed out and replaced with more bodies.

Holding on to Kate's hand with a death grip, I try and fail to pull her closer so that we don't get separated. When a second, larger detonation ripples out crushing the air from my lungs as what I assume to be the monster's charge finally making contact with the front line. The screams intensify as gunshots and clanging metal ring out, creating a demented symphony of war that shakes me to my core in a way that I didn't think possible.

At this very moment, I would do anything, give up all the riches in the world to be just 5 more meters away from the meat blender that I begin to find myself in. The smell of blood and other, more unknowable things begins to waft towards me setting my stomach to turn upside down and bile to fill my mouth. Then after another body is ripped from my sight with a spray of sanguine red, I see it. and it sees me, its beady red eyes lock on to me and all the malice in the world, all the horrors humanity has visited upon itself can not compare to the evils those eyes promise to visit upon me. I swear the creature smiles at me.

My flimsy mask of calm shatters like a thin sheet of ice and I begin to shake as my blood runs cold. claustrophobia claws at me and I find that it is getting more and more difficult to breathe. I think I can hear Kate screaming, or maybe that's me, I can't tell. All I can focus on is the fact the line between me and that creature is getting far too close. Until I find myself on the wrong side of that line, and it's all I can do to keep myself from soiling my pants.

With the violence suddenly upon me, the bodies crushing me into immobility suddenly part as our fellow man and monster alike descend upon us, creating space with the blood of the dead.

Its chaos.

unmitigated, utter chaos.

It's all too much. I try to move further back but there is too much going on, too much movement, I can barely see what's in front of me when I find myself face to face with my first foe. A balding man with a portly belly pushes towards me with a curved sword, His eyes only focused on getting past me by any means. I can't move, I am frozen in place as I watch in muted horror as he raises the blade in slow motion to end my life.

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move! you got to move! please god, I don't want to die.

move.

just when I think it's too late and the ark of the blade that will end my life begins to plummet down with brutal finality, I feel my arm shoot up and watch as the tip of my blade sinks deep into the throat of the man to his surprise and horror. I watch as he chokes on it, his mouth moving either trying to say some final curse or in a futile attempt to breathe through it. I pull the sword free and catch the inevitable spray of blood on my face noting its warmth, reaffirming that I am the one alive and he isn't.

Watching the light fade from his eyes I am surprised that I don't feel much of anything after killing someone for the first time. The media has told me that when you kill someone you are supposed to feel sick and throw up, you are supposed to feel horror at your action. After all, taking another sentient person's life is the ultimate crime is it not? I always believed that if this moment came I would handle it well, I would feel terrible about what I did for a few moments then move on just like all those action movie stars do.

So why do I feel nothing? no not nothing, I feel..... exhilaration.

"Caleb! Caleb, what do we do? I-I can't do this, oh god what do we do!?" the sound of Kate's panicked voice breaks me from the trance I found myself in. I do a quick, but an ultimately futile attempt of getting my bearings before grabbing hold of Kate's hand and pulling her close. When did I let go? Taking one last look around I notice just in time to see a grim hyena come out of nowhere and make a lunge for Kate.

"Get back!" I yell as I push Kate to the ground and proceed to swing my sword like a baseball bat, I manage to clip the creature in the mouth severing the tendon in its jaw just as it bowls me over. Without its main weapon, the thing tries to claw at me in an attempt to tear my face off. I manage to keep it at bay long enough for Kate to kill it with her spear. Pushing the deadweight off with the help of Kate I clime to my feet and give the girl a look of deep gratitude, something she returns in kind.

With a glance, I see the front lines starting to move away from us, only 1 meter or so but if they continue at that pace we will be left out in the open, which will lead to our certain deaths. I turn back to Kate and pull her close to me. "We need to get further back to the line. I'll cover you, and once we are back try forcing your way in again."

But before long another one of those things is upon us once again, and we find ourselves being pushed further from the back lines. In an attempt to gain back the ground we lost I make a reckless swing and nearly fall flat on my back. Skidding on the blood-drenched mud I manage to get my feet underneath me. But not before the creature makes a lunge at me, seeking to capitalize on my mistake. Desperate to keep the monstrous maw away from me I make one last wild swing at it, and manage to hit it clean in its neck nearly decapitating it. And with the help of Kate, I manage to quickly dislodge my sword and make our way back to relative safety.

The next few engagements are a lot cleaner and faster. I manage to cut down two more grim-hyenas, and Kate manages to take out one more with my help. And as a result, the chaos of our immediate surroundings stabilizes, increasing our chances of survival considerably. For the next five or ten moments, we manage to kill a few more creatures that get too close, but for every 1 we kill, 2 more take their place and there are still too many people packed together to try and slip deeper in. So I keep slashing and continue to cover Kate as she tries to get past those behind us when it happens. Kate tried to push past a bigger fellow with an axe when a pack of those abominations slammed into the wall of bodies bouncing her off the big man and onto her back. Right into the waiting maw of another monstrous hyena. I shoot out my hand and grab hold of hers, just as the beast bites down on her left leg.

Kate screams in pain as it locks its jaw and begins to pull her away from me.

"AHHH!! OH GOD, HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME!" she screams in manic desperation. "Don't worry I got you, Kate! I got you!" I assure her but I can feel my hand begin to slip slick with blood as it is, and my feet begin to slide in the mud as the creature pulls me along with her.

"DON'T LET GO CALEB! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! PLEASE CALEB" Kate's screams only seem to invigorate the creature as it redoubles its effort, pulling me further out of the safety of the wall of bodies.

That's when I see the second hyena approaching from my right. And at that moment I know that I have a choice. I can either let go of Kate and cut down the second hyena, saving my own life. Or I can drop my sword and yank Kate free dooming myself, but saving the life of this young, beautiful girl.

I take one last look at her beautiful light hazel eyes.

And let her go.

"CALEB? CALEEEEEEEEB!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" As the monster pulls her further away I swing with all my might down onto the head of the second hyena knocking it to the ground nearly cutting its ugly snout from its face, I then bring my sword up and stab down into its sternum ending the creature.

all the while I can hear Kate's screams grow loud as monsters begin to devour her alive, only for her voice to suddenly be mercifully cut short as another grim hyena latches unto her throat.