‘Careful!’ Annable shouted from inside the hotel. ‘Don’t do a John and trip while you approach them.’

  John swore at her light teasing from the bar, but she didn’t care, a bit of banter always makes the day brighter. Even if it meant someone needed to be teased once in a while.

  Like Andrew, she joined the cult because she was unsatisfied with her previous life. Working in customer service made her bitter, she despised how people treated her worse than dirt while she stuffed their groceries into a paper bag. But through her treatment, she believed the world could be better. Only when it was burned down to the ground and rebuilt from the ground up. She remembered joining the cult like it was going to prom. Though instead of dance, music, and good food. She was provided a future! An opportunity she couldn’t turn down.

  Pride rang through her heart, how she was part of a ritual to have her uterus removed so it could be used to birth the rightful rulers of this world. While it pained her that she couldn’t carry the future herself, she could at least smile that she did what was requested of her. Annable also had bragging rights over other women who participated by staying awake during the whole ritual to witness Theodor’s magic first-hand.

  Andrew approached the strange figure, yet her gut screamed that something was wrong. The person on the road stood still, his form only concealed by the night’s darkness. Andrew did his usual greetings to lower their guard, but Annable noticed Andrew froze when he got close to the man, like he saw something horrific. Then, the figure’s tail revealed itself.

  Before Andrew could react, the figure leaped towards him and grabbed onto his concealed shotgun. Andrew’s head exploded in a flash of lead, the echo of the shotgun blast was deafening even from miles away.

  Everyone stood in shock, Annable fell to the ground in horror as she watched her friend’s lifeless body slumped to the ground. The figure wasted no time, they raised their weapon from their side and fired their assault rifle as they advanced. The machine gunners fired back only for the roar of their guns to be silenced as their nest erupted in flames.

  Annable ran back inside the hotel, to reach for her bolt-action rifle. ‘Board up the door! Don’t let them in. We need to hold this place for as long as possible!’ She ordered, helping her fellow cultist tip the pool table over and knocking over an antique bookshelf to block the entrance.

  That will hold them off, it had to! She reasoned to herself, her legs ready to spring to action so she could run away from whatever killed her friends.

  Gunshots thundered outside the hotel, bullets whistled and cracked as the fighting continued. Then, it went silent. The battle screeched to an abrupt conclusion.

  Outside of the hotel, a fellow cultist banged on the door. ‘Help! Let me in!’

  Annable was tempted to do something, to help a terrified friend at a moment of crisis. No, I need to check first, she thought to herself.

  She peered out the window and saw Daniel clenching onto his wounded stomach, blood seeped from the gaps of his fingers like a steady stream.

  ‘Hey! We need to open…’ From the corner of Annable’s eye, the figure appeared behind Daniel. She raised her rifle and fired out of the window, shards of glass flew everywhere, some even sliced her right hand open.

  Seeing her error, she ducked to the ground as everyone raised their weapons and fired at the entrance. Wood splintered as hot lead sped through the air to punch a fist-sized hole through the wall.

  ‘Hold your fire!’ Annable screamed. But the chaotic bark of gunfire deafened any attempts to calm the panicked barrage of bullets. One was too drunk to keep their aim steady and accidently swung their machine gun around to the other side of the room. They thought the attacker was there. Only for them to realise too late that they gunned down two of their friends.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  The hail of bullets ceased and replaced with the clicking of hammers. Everyone ceased fire once everyone’s magazines ran dry. One dropped their machine gun as their mistake became clear.

  ‘Shit! Jesus Christ, shit!’ He cried over and over again while he pulled on his hair. The man wept while they prayed for their friends to come back to life. But there was nothing he could do to save them.

  Annable picked herself up to peek out of the window. She gagged as the stench of burnt pork rushed into her nose. It’s Daniel’s body, ripped to shreds, his guts spread all over the entrance of the hotel and throughout the road. It didn’t look like a human body, but a mass of bone and gore.

  Yet what made her heart sink to the depths of her stomach, was the figure wasn't there. No body, nothing! It was like they vanished as soon as she took the shot.

  She darted her head around, to witness a room of frightened friends. ‘Is everyone okay?’ She shouted, hoping it would bring back some sense of normalcy, to pretend that this was all a dream. She wanted it all to be a dream, for the nightmare to end.

  Everyone in the room mumbled to her, John was the only coherent one to say someone died during the chaos. Despite the amount of alcohol he drank, he sobered up faster than anyone else. I suppose fear does that to people; she reasoned.

  With a shake of her head, and a dose of confidence rushing through her. Annable knew she was the only person to keep everyone together. She had to be the leader they needed to pull them through. ‘Okay! We are facing a professional! I need everyone to load up and we’ll…’

  Her rallying cry ended as something slammed against the outside wall. Everyone remained silent, terrified to utter a sound from their lips as bricks chipped and sliced apart like the figure scaled the outside wall into the second floor. Her heart banged against her chest with every beat, her skull thud as the sound of the glass window slid open.

  Thump!

  He’s here, right above us. Her hands shook, the rifle rattled with every breath she took. No one dared move, they aimed their weapons at the stairs with their fingers shaking on the triggers. Yet they dug their heels in like they were anchored in place.

  ‘It’s just one person!’ Annable mumbled to herself, doing her best to hide her trembling voice before turning to everyone in the hotel. ‘We’ll go get them!’

  With a deep breath, she raised her rifle while she slowly approached the staircase, every step heavier than the last. No one wanted to move from their spots, they believed they were safe, safe from whatever was above their heads.

  John tapped her shoulder, to tell her that he was there. She gave herself a sigh of relief as two more cultists decided to join her.

  They all ascended, their steps silent as they walked up the stairs. The second floor felt eerie to Annable. To her, it felt welcoming, calm, and safe. When she knew well that it was anything but… there was a monster waiting for her.

  ‘Stay here, I’ll check the rooms.’ The other cultists nodded in response while she crept down the hallway. The stock of her rifle dug into her shoulder as every step made her stiff. She faced one door, with a deep breath she opened the door slightly.

  Empty, just an empty room. Annable gasped like she just emerged from being underwater.

  Okay, next room.

  She made her way over to the second room. It was the room she stayed in when they took the town over. Her little safe space. She couldn’t help but let out a smile as she mumbled. ‘This room is empty, I know it.’