Chapter 19
Us and Them
The silence was now the ominous presence.
No howls.
No night bird calls.
No insect chirps.
George and Jaime were settling into the deepest, coldest part of the night.
CRACKLE-THUMP
A trip line proving its worth.
The explosion of sound was followed by a low ferocious, snarl.
Luna retaliated with a vicious bark, Kim grabbing hold of her snout.
George croaked out a warning.
Jaime rushed back to the center of the small fort, spear in hand, shouting frantically to wake the others.
“UP!”
Jimmy was lost in thought.
“What-? What's going on?”
A shadow shifted, low and sleek.
It glided around the low angled wall, heading for the opening.
George side armed a throwing stick, weighted wedge spinning.
A sudden “Yelp,” and the shadow tumbled.
Dark paws kicked, trying to return upright.
Whistling through the air.
The sharp angled head snapped up.
Jimmy’s arrow flew, guided by pure clean thought.
Thwack.
Fletching bloomed from its left eye.
The monster dropped, its legs folding.
One desperate, guttural shriek that resonated across the meadow.
Hooooowwlll
It was answered.
Dan rushed to plug the gap, while everyone spread out with a spear.
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Belle sat shaking near a pile of throwing sticks.
“Help!”
The sudden cry cut across the night.
A maelstrom of howls, cries, thumps and crashing played out from the other camp.
A wide thick form steamed up to the western wall, attempting to leap it.
Chris hurled a trusty stick, body spinning with the force.
It found the beast mid jump, fouling its trajectory.
With a whelp, the beast landed partially on the palisade, hind quarters impaled.
Contorting violently, wood strakes groaning, it tried to break free.
Jaime and Annette’s frantic stabbing finally silenced its struggle.
A light gray worg cleared the eastern wall as its companion fell.
Bared fangs whipping back and forth.
Luna, staring down the beast four times her size, let off the fiercest barks of her life.
It paused, cocking its head.
Moonlight glinting off the spearhead preceded the rage filled thrust.
Blood poured from its side and mouth, as it tried to whip its body.
“DIE!”
Kim stumbled and struggled, but held her grip on her spear.
It cried, bit, and yanked on the shaft.
Kim’s foot slid in a cloud of dust.
Chris’ spear lanced down, impaling a hind leg.
He helped hold the dying beast.
The archer’s head swung, a weight pulling his gaze.
A massive black monstrosity charged into the funnel.
Thwack.
The Alpha twisted, the arrow marking a slice along its dense hide.
It was slowed, just enough.
Dan’s toughness and Power of NO held strong.
His shield did not.
Stumbling back in a shower of wooden splinters, feet digging up furrows as he tried to recover.
The beast stumbled drunkenly.
A point blank arrow thunked into its dense neck.
Dan shook his left arm out of the wreckage.
Club held strong as it blurred, delivering merciless crushing blows.
George stabbed it from the other side, hastening its demise.
The fort was awash in a curtain of loose, raw potential that moved with the Alpha’s ferocity.
Hands trembling, Dan waved his club through the air.
“Everyone.. Do the thing,” he struggled for breath, "We've earned it.”
Backs straightened, joints loosened, and thoughts sharpened as the fog was assimilated.
Dan surveyed the devastation across the way.
Their campfire still cast erratic, shifting light.
At least the screaming stopped.
Leaving the silence of the dead.
A dark, cautious figure emerged from the remnants of the camp.
Lucas.
Pale, clothes torn and bloody.
Torch high, shaking.
Two other men flanked him, both looking white.
They approached through the gloom.
Stepping carefully over broken ground, walking up to where Dan stood, club in hand.
Hold your ground.
Shaking fingers tightened on the wooden club.
