Abomination Contract Loving The Enemy

POV: Still Asher

I can see the formation of soldiers inside change after they see us, possibly reacting to our help or, hopefully, they received Hacker's message, however the important point is that, at the moment, the ghoul's front line gets thinner and thinner by being attacked from both sides, beyond confusing them it improves the amount taken down by always a blind spot to be exploited.

The problem is that our soldiers start falling as much too and for the same reason at that; for being attacked by all sides.

With so many strange new ghouls attacking and this new mindset is hard to predict their next move, but I have experience on my side and I know that, the moment they notice our back up team and our plan on opening up a path among their circle of death they will do their utmost to stop us.

So that's why I call upon the radio for my team as I assemble their new functions:

"Reaper and Hunter, you two go south and cover for reinforcements. Hound, you go with me, let's cover up north."

"Yes Captain." "Roger that." At that we separate into two groups as the soldiers inside keep forcing their way out we start working on avoiding that the ghouls manage to thicken that side back up with reinforcements to maintain the humans trapped in.

Hunter keeps making a wall of flame on the other side as Reaper covers him up from any faster or range ghouls that the flames could not reach, and as I intend to do the same on my side by having Hound opening up a path with bullets he simply accelerates and, having way too much fun with it, rides inside and in between the group of ghouls, breaking chaos among the not so smart troop force as they end up hitting each other as Hound passes way too quickly for them to catch up, shooting and laughing his way around the ghouls.

…I wish I could say that it is a smart, thought out, strategy, but knowing Hound is easy to say that he is just going with the flow, the fact that it ended up working being a strike of luck and not by planning his actions.

Aware that I'll end up being hit in the crossfire I stay away from the area, aiming at the troublesome range ghouls to stop them from increasing their number and contaminating our troops, plus making sure to help out the soldier from breaching the line of ghouls.

All seems to be going well as the soldiers start getting closer and closer to our location, the line of enemies dwelling, but that only makes me more suspicious and alert of our surroundings for whatever reason that the ghouls attacked as a united entity would not let them be suppressed so easily like this.

And the signs that something is wrong appear as I predict, slowly as the change is subtle, almost like whispering coming from the cold night air that shushes through the forest towards my ears, pass the wild wilderness, I stop a little further to stare at the darkness underneath the tree's leaves as the shadows move with the wind.

Then something changes, and out of nowhere the enemy's troops respond with howls and cracking bodies, changing formation and turning their bodies around together like a single-minded beast.

And instead of trying to make up for the fallen ghouls, trying to add more to the battlefield, they all suddenly turn towards me.

For a moment we only stare back at each other, all creatures evaluating me in a silent stare, dead glassy eyes reflecting me against the moonlight.

Then they all howl and scream, rushing towards me, arms extended and mouths wide open.

"Captain, what the fuck is going on?!" I can hear one of my soldiers say on the radio, but I have no time to evaluate the whys as I say:

"They somehow started going after me, give support to the civils and soldiers, I'll bring them away from there."

"No, captain, is too dangerous!" I expected them to start complaining as always, especially Hacker on the other side of the line, but none of their words reach my ears as I turn my bike around.

It may certainly be a trap, but if that means fewer ghouls hunting our soldiers then is a win-win situation for us, I'll just have to survive until daylight comes.

The acid starts hitting closer to me and almost hitting the wheel of my motorcycle, so I'm forced to move by the closing in horde that now ignores the upcoming attacks from behind and keeps trying to squish me in, leaving only the path to the forest open.

It is definitely a trap, but left with no choice and only time to dodge and react towards their attacks I head that way, curious to what happened for them to change strategies like this, even more at the loss of so many of their troops.

"Hacker." I say over the chaos and her complains. "Pay close attention to whatever happens from now and make sure to record everything."

"Yes Captain, be careful." She says finally, knowing better than to keep trying to convince me otherwise.

At high speed I can barely see what is in front of me, avoiding trucks and bushes by reacting to them at the last moment, but not enough as to not have my arms and face crisscrossed by the cutting branches all around.

I see shadows moving from the corner of my eyes, the light at the front flashing their silhouettes to existence, black claws reflecting and bony fingers meddling with branches, some seemly trees moving, some others reaching out, and only this chaos manages to keep me safe as the nonexistent road makes me change course quicker than they can react to, always a hand of distance away between me and then.

With these many following suit and not providing back up I'm sure that we will manage to help some survivors out, but the relief I feel is soon substituted with a worry that would be carried out through days after this encounter.

Something whips out in front of me, faster than anything I've ever seen, and by instinct I dodge backwards only for it to coil at the handle of my motorcycle, bringing it up and making me fall from the bike at the same time it raises the vehicle in the air.

I roll down the hill, trying to protect my head and lower the fall's impact, and once I stop I quickly get up on my knee and stand, looking up to whatever had attacked me.

Is too dark to see, far from the moonlights reach, but I can make out something curving up above as I start hearing metal bending and cracking under pressure.

The next second my motorcycle is thrown at me, making me dodge to the side and have a clear look at the now small ball of metal that once had been my bike bent under tremendous strength. 

The silence that follows is deafening, making my ears ring.

Then the sound of clapping, slow and deliberate, resonates through the forest.

"Very well, very well, and here I thought I would have cold meat for dinner tonight." The voice sounded… wrong, as if the throat is not used to the sounds it is trying to make, or rather, it wasn't made to speak at all, gurgling and hoarse at the same time.

Inhumane, in some way.

The speaking creature starts to move forwards, and by the sounds of stirring leaves and breaking twigs I know that I'm surrounded by ghouls as it continues its speech.

"Human Mark Bearer, my name is Szodiss, it is a pleasure to have you, here, alone…just exquisite meat for us to have, and no Protector to get in our way, such… splendor! Ahhh, the delight!" I do not hear its footsteps, but rather hear it drag itself forward at it comes to view.

A creature, that beyond intelligent enough to speak, is beyond unique with its looks, a long snake body underneath that did not have a continuous flow, but seemed to be made of many fleshy long rolls like octopus arms, and as it swings it body forward and from side to side like a snake I can see the humanoid torso, two arms and four protruding chest cover-up by scales.

But after it set its many eyes down at me the only part that I can stare at is the upper part of its head were four, no, six dark blue voidless round eyes stare back at me, embedded at the starting point of the many tentacles that grown pass the back of the head and move in the air like rattlesnakes, goopy in some way that the forest darkness manages to cover up.

Is that even a ghoul anymore? Those creatures are a mystery of their own, but now this… Today has changed our perception of them by a lot, and part of me knows that this is just the beginning.

The creature licks its long finger, moving its body and hips in an excited way as it says:

"You should not have come alone here, Mark Bearer, because now I will have a delicious meal for dinner and will be getting rid of your protector too!"

I cannot digest its words at the moment for the creature attacks, and reacting I manage to defend myself and cut the long-reaching tentacle limb that tries to grab me, but what I did no expected is the other set that came from the side, hidden in the bushes, over my blind spot as I shielded myself from the frontal assault.

I did not expect two of these… but what I expected even less is the creature that jumps out of nowhere, long black hair moving in the wind and leaving a ghostly afterimage, hand reaching out and grabbing the second tentacle so hard that it is squished down to nothing, a known yet mysterious pair of red eyes looking over his shoulder, and as the creature up above seems infuriated by his presence, somehow a predatory glint makes its ways to my cold eyes.

And they focus right at the intelligent ghoul up above this mess.