The grotesque creature tilted its head sideways, curiously examining the dark woman standing in front of it. She had strange ways of interacting with her predator. Did all humans act his way? Was that why the Bone Doctor was papa over the Bones? If anything, she looked mighty tasty. Fresh meat. Fresh meat good.

  “Come here…child…” Az was unsure of what the abomination was. Most likely something to do with the Bone Doctor’s twisted mind. Something he cooked up in his chapel. Her mother might have met the same fate as this poor thing. She could be disfigured and destroyed, transformed into some hideous perversion of life. A shiver shot through her spine. What kind of strange things was the Bone Doctor up to? She had to find her mother quick.

  While Az was busy thinking of her mother, hand still outstretched, she failed to notice the creature hobbling towards her. It licked its lips, gazing at her thigh in hunger. It sure looked tasty. Nice meaty chunk of flesh, right off the bone.

  The creature shot forward, its teeth csping around Azandrae’s thigh. She screamed out in pain as its teeth sank into her skin, slicing clean through her trousers. It felt like pin pricks or needles ripping into her leg meat. She pulled her knife out on pure instinct, sshing down on its bone back, cutting its scaly pale skin over and over, but the thing refused to relinquish its meal.

  She bashed the back of its head with pommel of her knife, getting ready to drive the knife down through its skull. The thing reeled back, taking a chunk of Azandrae with it. She dropped to her knee, gasping, gritting her teeth through the pain. Blood oozed from her leg, seeping into her pants, dripping down. Her thigh burned deep and hot.

  She looked back up at the creature, swearing at it through her teeth, “I’m gonna cut ya head from your shoulders, beast.” She ripped the sleeve from her shirt, tying it around her wound. She winced when she tugged it tight, tying the final knot.

  The creature whimpered as it retreated into a nearby bone building, raising its head with a gulp before disappearing into the dark, abandoned building. Azandrae felt a fire burn deep inside her, an anger rising. The thing just swallowed a part of her. If it wanted a piece, it was going to get the whole thing.

  She stormed after it, entering the dark building, her mind clouded with anger. Moonlight beamed down through the windows and cracks in the walls, illuminating the dust in the air, striping the room with rays of light and darkness. She heard the whimpering echo around her. It was scuttling around in the dark, staying away from her eyes. She could see just fine in here though; the creature was about to meet its end.

  A skittering crawled up behind her. She twisted to see the thing crawling along the bone ceiling, its mouth open as it shrieked at her. It clung like an insect to the ceiling, charging her down. It dropped down, mouth wide, cws outstretched. She held her knife up, braced for impact, and her knife stabbed into the thing. It nded hard on her shoulders, and the two tumbled to the dusty floor, rolling about as they tried to end one another.

  It gnashed at her neck and tried to bite into her artery. Its cws held tight in her back, stabbing into her flesh. She held her head back with all her might, her knife stuck in its chest as it continued to fight back.

  She let loose a war cry and rammed her head into its own as it shed forward to bite her. She felt an abrasive rush jolt through her brain as her ears began to ring. The creature fell off her, holding its head, whimpering. She kicked it back and unched it to the corner. The creature smmed into the wall and crumpled to the floor.

  She scurried to her feet, not wanting the thing to mount her again. Her knife was covered in tainted blood. It gave off a foul scent that seared into her nose. She held the knife firm, gazing down the creature in front of her. Her heart was pounding now. Her brows furrowed and her jaw clenched tight. She had a still lingering fear of the creature, even if it was human-like, it was still a monster that tried to eat her.

  She walked towards it, looking at its chest wound oozing out putrid, bck blood. She readied her knife to cut its throat, the same it tried to do to her.

  “I don’t know what ya are, but ya an abomination to life. I must end ya.” She was about to strike when the thing rose its head and howled into the night.

  A shrieking howl pierced her ears, ringing in her mind. She covered her ears to blot out the shriek, but it still penetrated deep into her head. Her face grimaced as she could only think of one way to end the screaming. She shot her arm out and swung her knife at its throat, cutting clean through to its spine. The knife lodged into its spine, sticking in the bone.

  The shriek ended. Silence filled the air once again.

  Az let out a sigh. She took a few deep breaths while sitting down in an old dusty bone chair. Her muscles ached, and her thigh burned with pain. She inspected the wound on her leg, prodding the crimson-soaked cloth. She undid the makeshift bandage. Her wound oozed with blood.

  “Shit.” She ripped her other sleeve and put the clean bandage on, tying it tight. She winced. It wasn’t great, but it would have to do. She began to stand when a shrieking howl pierced her ears again. She quickly gnced at the one she just killed. It was still dead. More shrieks quickly joined in, culminating in a orchestra of supernatural howls.

  The bone house shook as skittering cws scraped the sides of the house. Gss shattered upstairs, something nded down hard in the rooms up there. Az looked towards the stairway. More thumps, along with shrieks and cwing. The window behind her shattered in, cwed arms stretched out to grab her. She sprinted to the door, not wanting to be trapped in the house while those creatures descended upon her.

  Turning to run, she stepped out onto the street and saw Rigor Mortis battling a dozen more of the beasts. “No,” she whispered as more of the things roamed about. “How many of these are there?”

  They cwed at his armor, trying to rip into the man inside. They broke their teeth on his pte mail and ripped rings from his chainmail. They tore at his pauldrons, snapping old leather straps. Their cws tried to open the metal to get to the meaty delight beneath.

  Rigor fought back, sshing at them with his axe, cleaving one beast in two. Smashing the head of another with his foot. Crushing the throat of another with his bare hands, but for everyone he killed, two more took its pce. There were so many of them, they began to overtake the Death Knight.

  A shriek rang out behind Az. She turned to see a dozen more rushing through the house right at her. She wasted no time, sprinting away, trying to think of something to save them here. There were too many beasts and only the two of them to fight back. There had to be something that could help here. She hit a loose bone in the street and fell, crashing across the ground, scraping her arms as she nded amongst the pile dead Bck Guards.

  “Fuck.” She heard a loud thump of metal crashing. She turned her head to see Rigor ripped to the ground, being swarmed by monstrosities. The bashed their hands down on his breastpte, pulled at his arms and legs, and bit onto anything they could see.

  The ones chasing her from the house spilled out into the street, crowding around their kin, engaging in the feeding frenzy. Fear filled Azandrae’s heart. What was she to do now? How would she help Rigor? She was so useless in this fight. There had to be something.

  What would her mother say? Something about courage? Something about standing your ground? Nothing came to mind. Nothing helped her here.

  “Dammit to hell!” She smmed her fist into the bone road. She felt all her hope crashing down around her. Her chest sank. She did the only thing she could think of in a time like this.

  “Please, Samdei, give me sign.” She whispered, praying into the ether for something, anything. As she closed her eyes, the emaciated horses began baying in front of her, reeling into the air and kicking the stable doors. Her hands slid in the spilled intestines of the dead Bck Guards.

  Her eyes shot open. She didn’t know if her prayer was heard, but she found her answer.

  *Please donate to my PAtreon to get 5 chapters ahead!