Читать книгу Project: Shadow Walker - Dalin Moss - Страница 8

Twigs snapped against the soft flesh of Emma’s face, leaving stinging red marks as she flew through the prying fingers of the forest. She could hear Jim behind her, though she didn’t dare look for him. He could get past her, Emma knew that. He could run beyond what she was capable and leave her as bait for the drooling husks that trampled through the forest behind them. But he never made the move, never even attempted to deny her the small protection of an extra body between her and the husks.

They had been running for nearly an hour through the shadowy brush. Emma’s legs and lungs burned in protest of the repeated motion, but fear and adrenaline allowed her to continue forward. How many miles had they run? How many miles were left until she collapsed and allowed the husks to tear her apart?

“I have a plan.” Jim’s voice cut through her labored breathing.

Emma couldn’t reply. Couldn’t use her precious energy to form words and acknowledge the Hero.

“There should be a Hero patrol about three miles North. If we can get to them, we might have a chance.” Jim was breathing hard. Even with the beyond human stamina that every Hero possessed, he was beginning to show signs of wear.

Three miles , Emma repeated in her head. Only three miles . Her vision faded for a moment, and she tumbled through the air. Before she hit the ground two strong hands were around her waist, keeping her on her feet and pushing her forward. Three miles.

“Dammit,” Jim whispered under his breath.

He must have seen that she was on the brink of collapse. Emma felt his hand on her shoulder, his grip was firm, protective. He was at her side, keeping his hand on her to ensure she kept running.

Jim pointed forward, “North. Three miles, Emma.” He took a breath. “Say it to me.”

Emma looked at the Hero. His face was merely an arm’s reach away, but his golden eyes felt so far to her tunneled vision.

“North…three miles….” Her voice was shaky.

Jim’s grip tightened. “Good.” He backed away, returning to his spot behind her. “When you get there, tell the Heroes the husks will be coming from the East.” He fell even farther behind, “I’ll take them a long way. You can slow, but don’t stop.” Jim changed directions suddenly, pivoting to his right.

“Inside a mountain weathered and old there rests a city made of stone.” Jim was singing. “And in that place, there lives a door that never has been opened before.” The husks were following him. Emma could hear their staggering stomps fading with the song. “Gods and men and Life have tried, but only Death has seen inside.” He was giving her a chance to make it, possibly sacrificing his life so she could get to the patrol. “Until your final breath is drawn, the door will stay closed, safe, and strong."

Jim’s words fell into the distance, leaving Emma running in silence. I won’t let you down. I’ll make it to the patrol. We’ll live through this night, Emma silently promised and pushed herself forward.

North. Three miles.

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The sounds of the husks were growing closer with each, passing minute. Jim’s body ached angrily, but he kept going. He should be able to see Paradise’s wall any moment. He’d follow the wall West, hopefully to the waiting Heroes.

This wasn’t his first time dealing with husks. He was usually able to hide or avoid them altogether, but not always. He remembered the words his father had said. ‘You must remove the head. If it’s touching at all, the bastards will regenerate. Do you know that word? Regenerate? How about bastards? Don’t tell your mother I said that one.’ He made it sound so simple, but, from his experiences now, Jim knew it was nearly impossible to accomplish alone.

Husks roamed and hunted in packs and pairs. But even if you were fortunate enough to catch one hobbling by itself, it was best to duck and run before it caught your scent. They had the speed of a Hero with an endless stamina. Their reflexes were beyond human, beyond Hero even. Their talons were sharp and long enough to cut a person in two with a single swipe. But their true terror came from what happened when a man was touched. Fear would bubble and boil beneath the skin, petrifying their prey. Jim had felt it once, been touched by one of those demons. The fear that had manifested still haunted him in his deepest dreams.

When he was young, Jim heard the stories and songs about Heroes who had managed to kill one of the monsters. They were revered as legends; their names were sealed in the History Hall and song books. Jim idolized those brave men, risking their lives to vanquish the monsters that bred nightmares. But tonight, Jim didn’t care for the stories or songs. All he cared about was making it out alive.

In the distance, a large wall peaked over the tops of the trees. Paradise, the ancient Hero city. He was close to his former home, his family.

Jim turned to his left, following the distant wall West. The husks were growling, and near-human screams escaped their wretched mouths. Only a little farther; the patrol was so close.

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Emma had been running towards the wall for a few minutes. The moment it peered over the towering trees, she recognized it was not just any wall but THE wall. The wall that protected the magnificent city beyond, Paradise. She didn’t realize how close she had been to the mystifying city. She had heard so many stories, but this was the first time she had laid her eyes upon its giant barrier.

The girl only allowed herself a breath of amazement before she started to run again. Running North, towards the wall, towards salvation. The light of a fire danced on the trees ahead. Emma quickened her stride, throwing all her remaining energy at the beacon of light and then bursting into the small camp. Emma’s heart sang as she stared at five Heroes, their eyes shocked at the panting girl that had just interrupted their dinner.

The Heroes moved quickly, reaching for weapons and taking a defensive stance. Emma fell to the ground, trying with all her might to pull air into her lungs and speak of the news she so desperately needed to tell.

“Husks.” She forced the word from her lips and the Heroes’ faces went grim. “East.”

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Jim ran along the forest’s edge so close to the Barrens that the guards atop the wall had surely seen him and signaled a silent warning to their troops on the ground. As the husks continued to gain on him, his care for stealth and subtly around the Hero city diminished and even ground of the Barrens provided him with less need to concentrate on his coordination.

Where are they? The last time he had monitored the Hero patrols they had stopped just ahead, but Jim saw no indication of fire or smells of cooked meat. Must be a slower group, farther ahead.

A gnarled root grabbed at Jim’s foot, stealing the ground from beneath him, and he fell. One husk was closer than Jim anticipated, it lurched over his fallen body and collided with the ground in a tangle of limbs and fury.

The creature before him was grotesque. Grey, leathery skin covered the monster’s entirety. Two legs shot from its stretched torso with talon-like feet that dug through soil and flesh. Its arms were long and wiry. On the husk’s hands were five sword-like claws, tipped in barbed coils, searching for blood and life with deadly ease.

Jim jumped to his feet as the creature staggered into a gaited sprint. The husk grabbed at Jim, its claws skimming his neck and chest. Terror enveloped him.

Every piece of guilt mingled with each moment of desperation, threatening to swallow him whole.

The creature’s claws continued to slip down Jim’s body, disconnecting from his wounded flesh for only an instant. The instant was all Jim needed. The stupefying paralysis fled from his rigid muscles, and he was free to run again.

The rampant feelings of freedom, and warm blood dripping from his wound, fueled Jim as he ran. He didn’t know how much longer, how much farther, he could keep the husks behind him. But the faint glow of firelight informed him of life lingering in the distance. He forced his legs to move faster, pushing the Hero quickly towards exhaustion.

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One Hero gave Emma a drink from his canteen. She had dropped hers while running, needing to relieve herself of the small weight. She offered a nod to the dark-haired man and drank deeply. The rejuvenating waters helped slow her breathing and calm her pounding heart.

Emma handed the canteen back to the jolly looking man. “Thanks, um?” She tried to think if he had told her his name.

“You won’t remember a name in the heat of a husk attack. And if you’re lying about the attack, you’ll be thrown in the darkest prison pit we can find. So, names won’t be given tonight.” He gave a big toothy smile.

“Oh, okay….” Emma looked the Hero up and down, focusing on the double-sided ax that was sheathed on his back. “Lumberjack.”

A rumbling chuckle erupted from Lumberjack. “That’s a good one!” He clapped Emma on the back, “You’re Fencer then, eh?”

Emma gave a smile and nodded. She looked over the other Heroes.

Two of them looked East. One was very tall and heavily muscled; he had a burly brown beard and a scar that ran from chin to chest. Grizzly. The other, an equally muscled woman, had dark hair chopped just below her ears and bangs that tickled her forehead. Helmet. Grizzly and Helmet held spiked shields that reached a head above them, the metal looking as thick as Emma’s outstretched arm. They must weigh a ton.

One Hero was staring down the sights of a rifle. Emma had seen a few guns like that before, mostly in the hands of Heroes that passed through her childhood town. He’ll be Scope. Scope prodded at the sight of his gun, adjusting circular dials on the sides minutely.

The final Hero was an easy one. She had two identical, and deadly, looking swords strapped to her back. Emma was sure the Hero had them specially made to mirror each other. Twin.

Helmet made a small coughing noise, and the others began to move. Scope loaded a cartridge into his weapon, pulling the slide back with the slick sound of metal on metal. Twin and Lumberjack picked up heavy crossbows from nearby the fire, placing bolts in front of the taut bow strings. Helmet and Grizzly stood shoulder to shoulder, planting their heavy shields into the dirt. Emma squinted towards the East and took a step back at the sight she saw.

There was Jim, sprinting for his life as the three husks nipped at his cloak only a few feet behind. The husks were even more terrifying than Emma had imagined. From this distance they almost looked human. They were bipedal, and their arms and legs looked to be similarly proportioned. But as they came closer their human façade decayed.

Remnants of hair, from lives millennia ago, stuck to their graying flesh. At each end of their fingers, foot-long talons threatened any who dare stand in their way. But, Emma decided, the most disturbing thing about them was the way they ran. Instead of smooth and fluid movements, the creatures seemed to twitch and skip. It reminded her of the puppet shows that she had loved as a girl.

Jim grew closer. She could see the strain in his face and…the blood. So much blood soaked his clothes and his shirt was barely more than tatters. Emma’s eyes teared. He did this for her, had got hurt for her, and he still might die. All for her.

“Ready.” Helmet raised her voice. “Fire!”

The sound of thunder and the feeling of rain washed over Emma as Scope released a bullet into a husk. The shot hit the creature, tearing its arm from its body and throwing it to the ground.

“Get another shot ready,” Helmet commanded. “Crossbows…now!”

Lumberjack and Twin pulled their triggers and the bolts tore into the second husk just below its knees. The monster fell but continued to crawl after Jim.

“No time for another crossbow!” Helmet shouted, “Unsheathe and get ready.” Twin and Lumberjack threw their crossbows onto the ground and did as Helmet commanded. “Final rifle. Now!”

Scope released another shot, flinging the final husk into the dirt. Emma gave a breath of relief. Jim kept running, quickly gaining ground towards her and the Heroes.

Then, Emma watched in terror as the first husk was back to its feet, muscle and synapse twining together where its arm had been removed. Emma watched in curious horror as the arm stitched itself together and the monster began to run again. Then, like flowers budding from the dirt, the other two husks rose from the ground. All three were running again, quickly gaining on Jim.

Helmet and Grizzly tilted their shields away, opening a gap between them. Jim flung himself through the gap and the shields slammed together with a twang the moment he passed. Jim landed hard on his side; he took a brief glance at the small patrol. His eyes paused, his expressions growing with relief, when he saw Emma. But the moment was short-lived. Jim got back to his feet and put his body against the shields, just as the three husks smashed into the waiting wall.

The Heroes grunted with effort as the massive force pushed against their protection. Lumberjack and Twin stood slightly behind, their weapons ready to strike. Scope stood next to Emma and held a long pike pointed towards the incoming enemies.

“Get ready!” Helmet yelled. “Release!”

Helmet, Jim, and Grizzly jumped backwards, throwing their shields at the enemies beyond. The shields fell away, the husks on the other side staggering due to the sudden weight. The Heroes pounced at the small opening, swiping their weapons at the husks’ legs and torsos. Emma looked in awe at the beauty the Heroes each had while fighting. Every movement, every attack, every parry, seemed coordinated between the never-speaking fighters. When one attacked, the other would take a defensive position for the attacker. When one was forced to dodge or parry, another would move to protect their flank and strike back. It looked like a dance, only with much more blood and many more weapons.

But, for every attack, the husks seemed ready. They moved with erratic and sudden speeds, blocking every blade that searched for their necks with unnatural ease. They stepped past the fallen shields and began to advance, forcing the Heroes to step back farther and farther. Emma shook away the fear that had kept her planted in place and stepped into the fray.

Emma had to focus on defending. She kept her position behind an attacking Hero, her weapon guarding their sides. The beasts were moving too fast for her attacks. She had tried a swipe at a husk’s neck, but its claws deflected her blow easily and it swiped for her exposed chest. Grizzly’s blade caught the claws just before they impaled her and ripped her in half. She decided then that her skills were better set on defending the rest of her group.

The seven people fought against the three husks. They outnumbered the creatures two-to-one, but the fight never felt in their favor.

Emma heard Jim scream “Wait!” as Grizzly attacked at an open husk.

Grizzly’s sword seared the air and connected with the monster’s exposed shoulder. The husk fell back, pulling Grizzly with it out of position. The other husks were waiting, they pounced on Grizzly in an instant, shredding his flesh from his face and belly. The bearded Hero fell, dead, little more than a pile of clothes and gore.

Emma saw a fury manifest in Jim, the same fury she had seen just before he threw her to the ground the day before. The night seemed to grow even darker as he began a rage-induced offensive. He pushed two of the husks back with his blows, knocking one off balance as it retreated a step. The third husk tried to attack Jim’s flank, but Scope was there waiting. His pike stuck into the husk’s chest and pinned it to the earth below. Jim took a step to the side and sliced at the fallen husk’s neck, and its head rolled into the crimson-soaked dirt.

Hope surged through Emma’s core. There was a chance of victory with one of them dead, all they had to do was keep coordinating their attacks.

Twin screamed from Emma’s left and she felt sticky warm droplets pebble her arm. Helmet shoved Twin into the middle of their circle and Emma caught the wounded Hero. She looked at Twin’s chest: crimson with four gaping wounds. Blood pooled and spilled upon the already stained ground. In less than a minute, Twin was dead. Emma decided to grieve over this loss of life later.

Jim lurched at one of the remaining husks. The fiend ducked, predicting the attack, and lurched its talons at Jim’s side. Emma stepped in. Her blade missed the decimating claws, but her forearm caught the deadly attack.

Pain hit Emma; however, it was despair that began to choke her. The world had gone dark, and everyone around her became shadows and fog. She felt like she was falling deep within her own body. She tried to scream, but her voice had no sound. She tried to move, but her muscles refused the order. She tried to think, but the all-consuming fear strangled her mind. She was so empty. She must be nothing. From eyes that seemed to belong to someone else, Emma watched as Scope fell to a husk’s attack. The claws had struck straight through his eyes, a silent scream permanently plastered on his face.

Emma just watched, so empty, so nothing, as the husk jumped at her. Jim appeared from nowhere, pushing the demon back. Jim truly was a hero. He had saved her so many times already. It was a shame that he had given so much to someone so undeserving.

Jim was staring into her eyes. “Snap out of it!” His scream was far away. He pushed back another attack from a husk. “We need to move!” His voice felt like a whisper tittering on the wind. “Emma, now!” Jim reached his hand back and slapped Emma across the face.

Waves of the world rushed back to her. She gasped for breath at the sudden emotion and pain that anchored her to reality. Her face stung, and pain oscillated in her arm, but she was happy to feel anything. She was no longer empty, no longer nothing.

Helmet and Lumberjack were standing back to back, defending each other from an attacking husk. Emma and Jim followed their lead. Each duo fought a monster, and each duo felt their time coming to an end.

It took all of Emma’s concentration and honed skill to keep up with the husk, because its movements were so unpredictable. It would feign attacks and follow up with a rapid barrage of flurry. It would allow her blade to pierce its flesh in order to gain an opportunity to strike. This was an enemy that knew its own strengths and its opponents’ weaknesses.

Emma could feel Jim’s muscles as he parried or struck from her other side. She felt his cold blood against her bare neck. His arms moved in a succession of swings. He was trying to finish off the husk and end this torment.

She turned to help, absorbing some hits with her rapier that were meant to pierce Jim’s vulnerable sides. The husk moved back, preparing for another attack. But Jim and Emma moved as one. They pushed against the demon’s bloody razors, continually forcing it backwards. The pair were waves of water splashing against a battered stone, slowly breaking the ageless body into mud.

Jim thought he saw an opening, but Emma saw the feign as his daggers flew. She tried to move and help her Hero, but she was not fast enough. The husk’s claws slipped under Jim’s arm, stabbing deep into his chest.

Emma screamed as she saw Jim’s face grow pale.

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Everything was cold. The world around him was smoke and shadow. Far in the distance he could hear the screams of a girl he recognized from a far-off dream. But there were no dreams here, only cold. Ice grew up his legs, keeping him planted on the invisible ground. The ice traveled into his chest. His breaths were coming slower, more difficult to pull into his frozen body. The world had gone dark.

But, somewhere in the distance, he felt a familiar thread. It was unusual, a thread from a memory that didn’t belong to him. He reached for the object and his mind began to soar.

He stared at a Hero. He hated the foul monsters that wandered his land. His nails had discovered a soft place under the Hero’s arm. The Hero had moved fast, nearly overtaken him so many times. But here he stood, ready to die by his foe.

Then he saw the girl. She was no Hero, but still she was trespassing. She had to die too. He just needed to squeeze his hand, finish off this Hero, and then he would move to her.

Emma.

He paused at the name, whispered in his mind by someone else.

The girl was moving towards him. He needed to be rid of the Hero now. He needed to defend himself and throw down this human. Her green eyes stared into his with a storm of enraged passion. She wanted to kill him, he wanted to kill her. But he couldn’t move his hand. He couldn’t defend his neck as the girl’s thin blade cut into his flesh and removed his head.

Jim opened his eyes. The husk fell to the ground, Emma’s blade stained by its dark blood. Her gaze was fixed on him, mouth gaping in a mixture of fear and confusion.

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The husk went still the moment it contacted Jim’s flesh. Jim’s eyes closed, and he shivered as his blood ran down the monster’s arm. But the husk didn’t move.

Emma placed her hand on Jim’s shoulder. Steam wafted from where she touched. No, not steam, smoke. Black and billowing smoke rose from the Hero’s flesh. She took a surprised step back.

The husk stared at her, its eyes looking into her own. It didn’t’ move, only stared as she walked towards the frightening beast. The world had grown so dark, darker than any night she had ever lived before.

She pulled back her blade, aiming for the exposed neck of the beast. She had tried many times to hit the monster, each time failing against the superior fighter. But, this time, her blade struck true. She cut through the husk’s neck, its eyes continually staring as its head toppled onto the grass.

To her left, Emma heard Lumberjack’s deep voice exclaim, “What in the hells?” And she saw their husk fall as well. The world became lighter again. It was still night, but the darkness that had nearly suffocated them seemed to evaporate.

Jim gasped, and his eyes opened. He looked at the fallen husks and a large smile grew on his face.

“You saved me, Ellie,” he whispered, and then collapsed.