June 30, 2025; He didn't wait, he nudged Luke who was snoring softly by the wall, and moved to shake Dawn who was close to her brother.
"People..." Was all he said to them motioning towards the barn across the highway. Dawn hurriedly got up and rushed to wake everyone else. Clay whispered, "Four people ran into the barn across the highway." He pointed to the barn door that was still hanging open. Pretty soon they could all make out people yelling and he cursed.
"Fuck, there's more of them, and they're not being quiet." They all knew what that meant, and Clay couldn't help but think back to the giant spider that had been drawn to them by those fucking idiots in Granite City Illinois. Clay couldn't help but think about those captives they had passed earlier as he saw three lights moving through the trees toward the barn on the other side of the highway.
They were coming from the east so Clay had a feeling it was them. Luke was the first to say it though, and he didn't sound to enthused, "I bet they are from the group we passed. They came from that direction." He whispered from beside him, Clay just nodded in agreement as everyone but the Orc girls and Joanna gathered around him. "What do we do Mr Clay?" Luke asked.
Clay thought for a moment, "You and Jill sneak out the back. Get around behind them if you can. I'll try to ambush them at the door but I don't know how they'll react. They should be focused on me though. Use that moment, I don't know how good of an opportunity it'll give you two, but make it count." He paused seeing determination fixed on all their faces even in the dim light.
"Amy, Dawn, help Joanna keep the girls safe. There may be more of them out there. Sigrid, stay behind me and just be ready for anything. If shit goes bad for us, you all run." He looked at the women in turn. "Don't wait for me."
Sigrid stepped up slightly behind him after grabbing a spear and said, "Ay, Berserker." Before she flashed him a smile and Jill and Tonya a smirk as she added, "Don't worry, I'll watch his back." The look Tonya shot her could have frozen lava in its tracks as the women realized something between themselves. Clay could only shake his head as they silently exited the door. They stayed to the shadows in the front yard as they stayed low and hurried across to the highway ditch.
He heard the men they could make out as Orc's at this point yelling. "We know you're in there Erin. You and those other three, what were their names again?" Came a raspy voice. It started drizzling right then, light and cold but enough to dampen what he was saying. Clay could still make it out though.
"Dolly, Maddy and Fran I think was what their names were." Came a third Orc's voice. The one farthest away from Clay. He had moved far enough down the ditch he felt safe enough to cross the highway and run as silently as he could up to the end of the barn, Sigrid right behind him.
"That sounds right. Now come on out, and make like nice behaved little slaves and we'll forget about you all taking advantage of the confusion with those fucking plant creatures to run off." Even through the drizzle and darkness Clay could swear he could see a feral thoroughly evil smile splayed across his face. "After all, we were all caught off guard. Come out now and we'll say no harm, no foul and go back to everyone else."
The Orcs waited for a minute, Clay could see the speaker held a large hammer and his two lackeys both had spears. "Okay, well, if we're going to have to come in and get you, we're going to enjoy ourselves before we head back!" He started forward, hefting his large hammer onto his shoulder. Clay put the leader at around seven feet tall and nearly three hundred pounds. He had a belly to match the bulging biceps on his arms. The other two Orc's were only slightly smaller, and maybe a little more ripped.
Clay nodded to Sigrid, summoned his axe Ox, and sprang from the side of the barn. He quickly covered the distance a hell of a lot faster than he thought he would and as the second Orc started to react to Clay's movement Ox caught the man in the stomach as he went by. The blow cut deeply through the man's muscles and intestines and with a roar Clay reversed his momentum, slamming the spike of the bearded axe into the leader's back with a "Crippling Strike!"
He saw a flash out of the corner of his eye as something flew out of the tree line and then another shortly after followed closely by two figures. He heard the Orc behind him that he'd torn the guts out of gurgling as Sigrid nearly decapitated him with her knives, her blades flashing wet in the damp night as the flashlights reflected off them and seemed to make her eyes sparkle in the light drizzle. The Orc's body hit the ground behind her as she moved closer to Clay.
His axe spike had stuck in the orc's back, the spike having missed its spine, but punctured clean through to the orc's lung. The impact carried the Orc forward as Clay went to the side tearing it free as he went. The Orc fell to its knees as the spike was jerked free, apparently unable to move its legs as it coughed up blood. It tried to swing its hammer but couldn't seem to find the strength to lift it.
Blood instantly sprayed from the wound as Clay spared a glance at the third Orc who had sprouted three spears, and was trying to crawl away, he looked to be struggling, it tried to pull one of the spears out with a feeble hand. Clay planted his feet, trying to stop as the brief drizzle ended just as suddenly as it started, reversed his momentum as he swung the axe down, burying it into the crawling Orc's head as he finally slid to a stop ending the Orcs struggle to get away.
With a gurgle, the leader tried to stand back up where it had fallen to its knees onto the damp ground using the barn door for support. It looked at Clay, surprise, hate, and something else painted on its crude visage. "Wh..who the...fuck?" Without waiting Clay took two quick steps and buried his axe into the leader's head. With the force he used the man's head exploded and he heard several cries of alarm from inside the barn.
He could hear the four women the Orc had named earlier crying and whimpering as if they were about to die themselves. Luke and Jill joined them as he started searching the three bodies. He looked up at Jill as she got near, "Jill, Sigrid, I think you two should be the ones to get them to Amy and Dawn, me and Luke will search for any more." He nodded to the barn and looked at the sky which was starting to lighten as the sun started to rise in the distance.
"Did you see any in the woods?" He asked Luke. The two women moved inside and soon a line of women quietly made their way out of the door and moved towards the house. They had hoods up and neither Clay nor Luke could tell what the new woman looked like as they made their way to be checked out by Amy and Dawn back at the house.
"Two, Jill killed one with her mace and I ran the other through with my spear. We didn't get an opportunity to strike until you came around the corner of the barn though Mr Clay." He paused for a moment scanning the area. "Mr Clay, I think we need to leave here as soon as possible. When these guys don't come back, people like that'll just send more."
Clay nodded as he took the big hammer a well-made hatchet and three good knives and placed them in his Spatial Storage. They didn't have any supplies other than half a fifth of Jim Beam, and three bottles of water. They searched the bodies in the woods too and found nothing of value. As they made it back to the house he heard Amy and Dawn speaking over one of the women. The others sat worried on the couch. All of them Beastmen.
He agreed with Luke 100%. They had to get across the creek and soon. "What's wrong with her?" Clay asked Amy and Dawn as he made it to them.
Both women looked at him and then back to each other before Amy answered him, her voice serious. "She has a thorn from one of those pods close to her heart. The poison has infected her badly and neither of us knows how she's still alive let alone walking." She shook her head. "We need to operate, out magic won't work to remove the brittle thorn."
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He realized how serious it was and looked at the young woman. She had to have been pecked by a damn chicken and infected with the Beastmen Gene, she looked like a Dominique chicken with her black and white barred hair and rosy face. He focused on her with his Greater Eyes of Insight ability.
Dolly Sharp, Beastmen Female, Age 24
Level: 5
Class: Beast Tamer
Health Points: 240
Mystical Points: 60
Strength: 18
Dexterity: 16
Intelligence: 18
Wisdom: 20
Passive Abilities - Poison Resistance; Regenerate
Skills - Call of the Wild; Dominate Beast
"She can regenerate a little on her own, hurry as best you two can. We'll start moving everyone over. Let me know when you're done." Clay said and looked down at the scared young woman who was looking up at him like seeing a monster standing in front of her. He didn't have time for niceties at the moment.
He turned and looked at the rest of them using his ability on each one starting with the folk-like Beastmen woman with flaming red hair.
Erin Turner, Beastmen Female, Age 26
Level: 7
Class: Druid
Health Points: 290
Mystical Points: 94
Strength: 18
Dexterity: 16
Intelligence: 24
Wisdom: 22
Passive Abilities - Synthesis; Knowledgeable Insight
Skills - Plant Growth; Nature's Guardian; Thorn
A druid, interesting. With a skill called plant growth. That was going to come in handy wherever she decided to go or do. He focused on the next woman, it appeared she'd been bitten by a cat.
Fran Kurdil, Beastmen Female, Age 24
Level: 4
Class: Warrior
Health Points: 240
Mystical Points: 50
Strength: 18
Dexterity: 18
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 16
Passive Abilities - Track; Infravision
Skills - Vicious Strike; Frenzy
Okay, another warrior. He focused on the last woman, she had dog-like ears and Clay kinda got the feeling she'd been bitten by a golden retriever.
Maddy Morgan, Beastmen Female, Age 23
Level: 5
Class: Mage
Health Points: 240
Mystical Points: 100
Strength: 16
Dexterity: 18
Intelligence: 22
Wisdom: 16
Passive Abilities - Endurance; Mystical Well; Infravision
Skills - Dark Bolt; Mind Blast
Wow, a mage too, hmm... This could be beneficial. Or it would be if they stayed with Clay's group. Especially the druid, Erin. If they could get to the valley, they just might be able to grow crops. He had to get home.
"Come on, we're crossing the fucking creek right now. Luke and Sigrid, you're going over to the other side with the first group. We don't know what's over there so stay alert." He said.
He looked at Jill and Tonya, "You two keep everyone calm over here while Amy and Dawn work on Dolly." He looked at the other three women that had come out of the barn. "You are now part of our group. At least for now. You do as you're asked when you're asked. If you can't keep up, or don't like those rules, we'll leave you for those fuckers and those like them." He hooked a thumb outside towards the barn. All three nodded and hurried outside to help cross the creek.
It took four trips to get everyone across the swollen creek. And an hour of that was spent by Dawn and Amy working on Dolly's wound. He found himself quite worn out after pulling everyone across hand over hand using the dead power lines to propel the canoe forward. He found himself sitting on the road, catching his wind as everyone else gathered things together to continue their journey.
He had just stood up and dragged the canoe up onto the roadway when he heard dogs barking in the distance. He looked at Luke and the rest of them and Luke grabbed the front of the canoe as everyone started moving farther up the winding roadway next to a rough stone bluff that the road had been cut out of a long time ago to the top of the hill.
Clay could make out individual braying as the dogs got near the creek. "Come on, we need to put some distance between us and those dumbasses. I don't know if they'll find a boat or canoe close by but I'm sure they can work a few people across that power line at the least." He said urging the tired women on as they crested the hill.
Finally, they made it to a big rock store with a character of an old man with a hat that read "Happy Pappy's" in bold red letters. There were several cabins to the right of the VV Highway junction and another taller one to the left of the store which was on the left side of the junction as they came to a large T intersection. VV Highway ended at Highway 119 as the latter continued around the ridge and back down a steep descent into the park. Clay steered their group to the right still heading south just down VV Highway.
"Keep moving, we can still make it by dark if we keep this pace," Clay said. "We can all rest then." He tried to sound positive as they made it past the RV park and around a ninety-degree turn taking them West again. The four young women looked ready to fall at any moment but continued to put one foot in front of the other. Soon they passed a fairly large crater that had a bright blue flame spewing twenty feet in the air.
A pool of water had collected in the bottom of the crater but was still below the pipe sticking out of about the crater's center, spewing flames. The flora fifty meters away was a more vibrant lively green and they could feel the heat of the flame even as far away as they were. They skirted the edge of the greenery, making their way up another incline where the highway continued on its snakey, curvy path westward.
By about four in the afternoon, they turned south down a gravel road with a thick patch of pine trees near the end of it, wedged between three fields. The fields were brown with little grass to show for this year's growth, just like everywhere else he had seen. What he was happy to see was the cows grazing at the back of one of the fields as they made their way by. That was a good sign. After about a mile the gravel road passed several houses and Clay noted the ransacked look of the interiors. He grimaced, that wasn't a good sign.
"Someone's been through here recently," Sigrid commented, she was looking at a leaf and Clay was surprised to realize he could see the spots of tacky dried blood on it even from fifteen feet away as she crouched to inspect tracks below it. "I'd say no more than a day old as damp as it is around here."
Clay grunted in acknowledgment. If they were still around he knew exactly where they would be. "Stay alert." Was all he said trying to stay calm. They were less than an hour from Jake's Cabin. Thirty minutes after that and a quick water crossing they could be in the shelter. "We'll be dropping into a valley pretty soon. We'll have to make our way to the end of it. That's where the Cabin my brother left me is." He was silent for a moment as they passed a "No Trespassing" sign hanging on a tree.
"I just hope everything is as it should be when we get there. That worries me." Clay pointed at a fresh mark on a large pine tree about head height. It was obvious to Clay it was from a shotgun. He nodded behind them at the houses disappearing in the distance behind the forest they were entering. As they moved further along the road the trees grew much larger and thicker, their canopy nearly blocking the sky out.
Clay could see dense tendrils of fog stretching through the trees like some ancient primordial tentacled beast, the temperature under the thick canopy rising to around fifty degrees. He started sweating carrying the canoe with Luke as he had a couple of layers of clothes on.
They passed a gate that had been driven over and mangled. By the looks of it, not long ago. Probably around the time everyone was starting to run out of gas. Now he was starting to worry. He had taken too long! "Damn it!" He said, anger in his voice. Jill and Tonya gave him a worried look but said nothing as they started down a steep incline in the gravel road that had terraces cut into it to prevent the road and the steep hillside from eroding. As they descended they dropped out of the thick fog and into a green valley.
Moisture dripped off the leaves around them as water molecules collected enough to form droplets, and gravity took care of the rest. It had gotten dark by this point and Clay came to the edge of the wood line. To his right was the big ass hole his brother had dug for the foundation of another cabin to be poured. Forty yards past that they witnessed a herd of deer grazing as they made their way out of the woods and into the clearing that Jake had planted clover in.
The white-tailed deer just looked at them, chewing casually as they made their way past. Ahead, they could see a two-story cabin's silhouette starting to come into view as they got closer. A flickering light could be seen in the window, and Clay could see a large jacked-up Dodge parked in front of his brother's camouflaged Jeep.
He made everyone get down and then whispered, "I'm going to see who that is, and how many." And moved forward, he was only thirty yards from the front fucking door. As he got closer he heard a man's voice, loud and obscene coming from inside the cabin.
He made it to the lifted Dodge, ducking behind the big ass tires and caught his breath for a moment. He'd cleared the distance pretty fast! He peeked into the truck and could see dried blood on the seat. It didn't take him long to catch his breath and then he moved in between the truck and the jeep, staying as low as he could crouch. That's when he saw the custom license plate on the truck. He knew whose fucking truck it was.
The license plate read "CINDY."
~Thank you all for reading! I hope to continue producing content you can enjoy.~
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