“Let. Me. Go.” Each word from his mouth took so long to spit out and still retain its ferocity.
“We need you.” The Dark One spoke in a whisper and then faded back into darkness. Everything was in darkness. “Please…”
There was a howl, a piercing scream as if he’d never heard before, then there was growling. Next, Sergio found himself looking quite closely at the gap between the wooden floor boards. He had returned to the real world, and time was going fast here.
“Come on Sergio, get up, we need you! Are you okay? What happened to you?” Maro shook him violently; grabbing the edges of his armor he lifted him up onto his feet like his body was a sack of potatoes. “Never mind now, get on that spotlight and stay alert!”
Maro rushed back down the stairs with his rifle already in his hands. Sergio looked below to see some of the other Hunters gathered by the door. He turned, feeling his head reeling, and flipped the switch on the spotlight. An intense bluish-white light beat down on the icy surface of the ground for a moment before it began to flicker, and then it went out.
“Sergio!” Maro called, and he knew what his inflection meant.
He pushed the switch back and then turned it on again, this time it flickered twice first and then stayed on. At the moment he was about to call down to tell them the light was working, he heard the door open. The big man with the heavy machine gun stepped out first, flanked by the other four soldiers who had been sitting at the fire drinking tea.
The firing began, and Sergio heard more howling. He reached for his machine gun leaning against the railing and aimed it out the window at the edge of the path they had walked up on. He scanned carefully for movement and when his eye caught a rustle in the weeds, he opened fire on the unknown anomaly. A low growl was heard before the movement stopped and the light went out again. It was almost dark out now and there were anguished grunts coming from downstairs. Sergio kicked the stand of the light in anger, flicking the switch off and on again until it shone steadily.
“Sergio, we need you down here!” Grigori called out with a hint of terror in his voice.
Without another thought or hesitation, Sergio leapt down the narrow stairs and rushed out the door, the two remaining Hunters inside shoved it closed behind them all, someone had to stay inside the base at all times. Three men were firing into the bushes and crevices of the earth. Grigori was nervously reloading the magazine of his weapon, his eyes darting around in search of a surprise target. Sergio tried to follow his gaze, to give the young man cover while he fiddled with his weapon.
Suddenly, a ragged beast leapt from a pile of debris on their right and tackled the heavy Hunter to the ground; Sergio changed his stance and opened fire until it screeched its retreat. The Hunter stumbled to get to his feet and looked okay, but where there was one beast, there was more. Grigori had already exhausted his reloaded magazine on several targets and was backing slowly away from the left edge of the battlefield. Maro was the farthest one forward, accompanied by a shorter Hunter with a shotgun; they were picking off the Watchmen one by one as they ran in a large group across the road.
“The road is clear, let’s go!” Maro yelled to whoever was capable of following him. Sergio wasted no time in trying to catch up, with Grigori and another Hunter right behind him.
In the whirlwind of weather and adrenaline everyone rushed back towards the Oktyabrskaya station entrance.
Chapter 3: Venice
A cacophony of howling surrounded them; every man huddled into a circle, facing outwards, weapons at the ready. They stepped slowly, inching their way towards the station and to safety. One Watchman crawled closer, not ready to attack yet but hungrily sniffing at the air and snarling as if it was taunting them, testing them. Grigori’s hands were shaking and Sergio watched his finger slip down onto the trigger. Sergio tried to grab his hand but it was too late, Grigori pulled the trigger back and the curious Watchman rolled backwards into a ditch. Now they were in for trouble, and it seemed as if every last remaining beast rushed forward at that moment and their firing circle did not hold up for long.
Sergio felt the force of a large body jumping on top of him, and he was shocked to find himself looking up at the endless grey sky. He reached for the knife in his boot, drawing it out and stabbing at the being’s underbelly in one swift motion. It shrieked loudly, his visor was splattered with its off-color blood. The weight was lifted and he rolled onto his side, searching on the slippery ground for his rifle. He could see a few pairs of boots nearby, scrambling to defend their own positions.
His automatic lay just a few feet to his right and he crawled on his side towards it but trying to get traction on the ice with his feet proved useless. He arched his back up and pulled himself to his knees, lunging forward and taking his rifle up like a child in his arms. He quickly checked the switch and his magazine, everything was in order and he still had about half his rounds left. Searching for a target was not hard, but they were all moving too fast, the battlefield was covered in blood and grey fur, and peppered with the four remaining Hunters. Sergio hoped Maro was one of them, and hoped the one that was missing was not Grigori.
A new brand of howl tore across the open sky, signaling a flying demon entering into the action. Sergio gritted his teeth and cursed quietly, hoping that crouching next to the bushes would camouflage him. He could hear two of the men yelling short commands at each other, and then heard the Hunter with the shotgun fire three times. He swiped his jacket sleeve across his mask to clear his vision, but could not see from his location what was going on now. More shots were heard nearby, two more shotgun blasts, and another burst of automatic fire. He could hear one man yelling, almost as if he were trying to scare the beasts off with a war cry. Next, he could clearly hear a new command.
“If you’re still alive… run!” He wasn’t sure who had called out; the tone of the voice was lost in its volume.
Further explanation was not needed as the heavy Hunter came barreling towards him, his main weapon was either lost or he had ditched it when he ran out of ammunition. He grabbed Sergio by the collar of his jacket and dragged him from the frozen field and down into a rocky ravine to the left of the path. Forcing his own feet to catch up with the other man’s speed, he was quickly released and continued to follow after the Hunter, only looking back once and then worrying that none of the other men seemed to be following them. He would ask questions only after they had stopped, for now he just wanted to believe that they would catch up, or had found another way through the vicious hoard.
Hearing distant howling, he guessed that they had lost the trail of the mutants, and yet they kept running. This man seemed to know quite well where they were headed, because there seemed to be several different paths through the old streets and he turned down each one precisely. Even when one path was blocked by a crumbled building or pile of rusted car bodies, he knew just how to get around to the other side without climbing over. After a few more turns the man slowed his pace down to a brisk walk, coughing every few steps. It was only after Sergio stepped up beside the man that he noticed the large crack in the visor of his gas mask.
“Look kid, I might not make it back, so I have to,” more coughing, “I have to tell you where to go from here.”
Sergio shook his head nervously, trying to find words to reassure the man that he would be okay. He had filters to spare, but not another mask. His mind raced, wondering where the other Hunters were and what had happened to them where he couldn’t see.
“Wh-what about the others?” He squeaked, motioning in the direction they had come from.