Restless - Chapter 7

AN: 2/4
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The place was a ghost town. At least, that was the conclusion I came to. Signs of life were there, but they were old as though the inhabitants hadn’t been back in a long time.

But something else had. Trails of sticky red webbing that reeked of rotting meat lined everything as if a warped spider had made the entire place a nest.

If it was just the meat webs, it wouldn’t be too bad. But the webs were seemingly alive. Even from here at the alley’s mouth, I could see sections of the webbing that throbbed as if they were the veins of a fallen giant.

I looked out into the distance. A great wall separated this side of the city from the other. Noise and light constantly came from way over there as if we weren’t that far from civilization. It made being here all the worse as if we were entirely isolated. No, not as if- we were isolated. No one could hear us scream… except the lurking corpses.

”Well, this place sure looks dead.” Clyde said in the most dead-pan voice I’d heard from him. And yet, his voice felt incredibly loud in the absolute silence of the town streets.

I asked quietly as his voice echoed down the streets, each reverberation making my heart pound faster and faster, “Aren’t you worried they’ll hear us?”

I really hoped he would say something that would put me at ease. I shoulda known it was a fool’s hope. ”The Shiev? Please, they’re as deaf as bats… err- as deaf as bats are blind? Maybe? The point is-“ He cut himself off before screaming, “-THEY CAN’T HEAR ANYTHIN’!”

His voice echoed spectacularly, each echo pounding my chest with its full might as fear crawled up my spine. I so didn’t want to face these Shiev. Or a threat in general.

Please, please just let me go home? I’m more than willing to give up being a Herald! My eyes raced from one side of the alley to the other, erratically watching for a rushing tide of bodies- 

They never came. That’s not to say an attack never came though- specifically for the source of my terror. Moll slapped the loud man over the back of the head harshly. The meaty sound of her hand hitting him contrasted greatly with the silence of our surroundings. Unlike my very real fears of beings swarmed by endless hordes of Shiev, nothing reacted to his shout. “Dang it, Clyde! Just ‘cause they can’t hear doesn’ mean we can’t! And Grave Knights have some hearin’ abilities.”

“You’re right, you’re right. Sorry, dear.” Clyde immediately backed down as he rubbed at his head. Although his voice was completely servile, I had the sneaking suspicion he didn’t mean it. Probably got some kinda twisted thrill outta seeing Moll and I jump at his shout. 

“Darn right! Now, c’mon. We’re almost there. Then we can ride off into the darkness richer than we’d been in a long while.’’ Moll’s tone left very little room for bickering, which was at complete odds with how she’d talked before.

I watched as she took the lead, catching sight of her tensed-up shoulders. Looks like I wasn’t the only one nervous about what we were doing. Though I got the feeling her worries were far greater than mine considering she had, you know, powers.

I kept close as we walked out onto the streets of the abandoned town. We walked out in the middle of the street, keeping away from the buildings where something could lunge out at any moment. Clyde followed along at complete ease as if we weren’t risking an attack at any point. 

Every step along crumbly gravel roads shot daggers of anxiety through my spine. My eyes constantly bounced around, dancing from one shadow to the next as if to catch an attack before it could come. I kept my hand on the revolver at my waist, though it was so shaky I probably wouldn‘t be able to do anything even if I drew it in time.

Unfortunately, no matter how much I psyched myself up, I couldn’t have prepared myself for what we stumbled across as we turned down an intersection.

Several carriages lay in pieces on their sides, scattered luggage thrown around carelessly. The entire surrounding area was covered in blood, and the stench of death barely reached me over the sewer stench clinging to my clothes. 

Divots, roughly the shape of a body, covered the ground. Only one corpse actually lay in the wreckage though. A man mauled beyond recognition with chunks of flesh torn from his body sat leaned up against one of the tipped-over carriages. Bite marks covered almost every part of him, most looking human. The entire surrounding area was dyed with his blood, and from the look of tortured anguish barely recognizable through sundered flesh, he hadn’t died easily.

Bile rose up my throat as I looked over him, though I barely managed to choke it back down as Moll approached the corpse. She knelt at its side, using her gauntleted hand to close forever unseeing eyes. “Looks like he was attacked a few days ago.”

“Might could be in the area still.” Clyde strode in front of me, breaking my line of sight with the corpse. “Reckon we keep our eyes peeled from here on out.”

“Um-” I bit my lip as my voice came out with a slight tremble. Through some unknown force of will, I managed to make it return to normal. “Why’d they leave the corpse?”

Moll snapped her fingers, creating a ball of fire as she held it closer to the corpse. “The Shiev Plague takes seven days after death to take over the body. Those shamblin’ bodies probably lost interest when they realized our poor friend here was infected.”

She brought the fireball closer still as the flame intensified in heat. Soon, the body started to sizzle. As if she didn’t like the stench of burning meat, the ball in her hand turned violet. I could feel the heat all the way from over here as the corpse seemed to liquify and then evaporate into nothingness under the continual flame. 

She took a big breath and stood back up. “One less Shiev we hafta worry ‘bout.”

“Cremation, eh? Sure he would appreciate the thought.” Clyde turned away from the wreck carriages and led the way forward. “C’mon now, it's right around the corner.”

And indeed it was right around the corner. We turned down one last street, arriving before what looked like a bank. Words done in a language I couldn’t read were propped up on the building in big bulky letters. Or at least half of them were propped up. The other half had collapsed, caught in the red webbing that seemed to cover everything this side of the defensive line. The few letters that slipped past the webbing were slammed through a wooden outer deck.

A terrible stench wafted from the building, somehow even managing to overpower the loathful sewage that clung to our clothes. “Are we- are we- uh, robbin’ a bank?”

”Well, robbin’ is a strong word.” Moll chuckled to herself. “More like hmm… our client wanted us to fetch some treasure from here, see?”

Ah, so they were treasure hunters. Or at least, for now, they were treasure hunters. It was a step up from straight-up Villains. Treasure hunters were highly respected back in the Republic, even if most of them died brutal deaths looking for long-lost treasures. Them being treasure hunters and not criminals... it made it easier to follow them, in a way.

Moll stepped up to the building, using her flames to cut through the meat webbing just as she’d done several times before. This time though, instead of going on into the space, she stepped back and withdrew her flames once the door was cleared. The fire condensed into five fireballs floating around her. “Think I heard somethin’.”

Clyde pulled his revolver out, thumbing the hammer as he stared intently toward the dark doorway. I followed his lead, nearly dropping the revolver as I hesitantly aimed for the door.

”You sure-“ Clyde cut himself off as he pulled the trigger twice, shooting off two rounds amidst a cacophony of noise. The sound echoed up and down long-abandoned streets.

A scream came from within the bank. It sounded vaguely human. The tortured sound, however, was warped beyond repair as if some leech hung from the person’s voice box. 

As if that was all it took to open the floodgates, a ton of noise came from the building as monsters awoke. Several crashes echoed out, tightening the already tense situation like a wound-up spring. Or at least that’s how it felt to me. 

Clyde and Moll looked as though they were in their element, finding time to joke around even amid horror. I felt a bang of envy as I barely kept myself from hyperventilating. “Reminds of the time that chihuahua bit-“

He abruptly stopped talking as a rogue fireball whizzed past his head. “Oh? I thought I heard a pesky gnat buzzin’ ‘round. My mistake.” 

A window upstairs shattered as a human figure tumbled out of it, sliding down the paneled roof of the bank. Clyde shot it four times before it could even hit the ground as I watched the person crumple over, dead- 

No, the person was already dead. I closed my eyes momentarily, reminding myself that they were monsters wearing people’s skins, not real people. My hand tightened around the revolver. I’d already seen the damage the Shiev could do back at that caravan. It was an us or them situation.

I watched Clyde reload uncaringly, smoothly opening the chamber and dumping the empty shells out. He held the two remaining bullets in with his thumb. With casual ease, he slid bullets into his gun and reloaded the entire revolver in seconds. “That’s two for ole’ Clyde. Are you gonna catch up, dear Moll?”

”Last I remember, I’m up seventy-three to sixty-eight battles. I’m just lettin’ you close the gap.” Moll harrumphed as she waved her hand, separating a piece of fire from one of the fireballs floating around her. Said fire turned into a curtain over the door, melting one of the Shiev as it stumbled out.

A figure stumbled out the same window, this time catching my sightlines as I hefted the revolver up and squeezed the trigger. The gun’s kick tossed my aim way off as I pulled it again and again.

Click! Click! Click!

Empty. Right, guns went empty. My hands trembled as I brought the revolver back down. I barely managed to find the cylinder release. I flipped the revolver over, imitating Clyde. Or at least trying to imitate Clyde. Half the chamber slid back into place with my motion, keeping several empty shells in until I shook the gun again.

With the revolver empty, I fumbled for the bullets I’d been given. I grabbed a handful, almost dropping the pistol as I shoved the first bullet into the chamber. I got into the flow of things, my rechambering becoming easier with each bullet.

I slapped the chamber back into the revolver, pulling the hammer back as I raised the gun-

“… reckon he’ll notice us?” Clyde asked as he waved at me from a spot leaning against the bank’s main door.

I frowned, looking around as I tried to figure out what was going on. Several corpses lay scattered around the place, about half riddled with bullets and half burning into ash. 

Moll’s fire lit up the area, allowing me relatively clear vision even if it was pitch black out here. With the Shiev no longer stumbling about, it was much easier to get a clear view of them. 

They were human- or at least had been human at some point. Sharp protrusions of bloody bone poke out all over their bodies like spikes. The bone almost seemed to grow out into armor-plating, acting as a weak level of defense. Not that it mattered. The bone plating on several of the bodies had been shattered by Clyde’s bullets.

Outside of the spikes, they also had wicked long protrusions coming out of their hands. The claws were incredibly sharp, digging into the Shiev’s surroundings where they fell. Could probably easily cleave me in two. 

As for the rest of their bodies, outside of the bones, there wasn’t much difference from a human. The meat and muscles were slightly rotten, and a terrible stench wafted off of the corpses. Their faces were mostly covered by bone protrusions, making it look almost as though they were helmets.

Moll sat on the only clean spot of the bank’s deck, casually playing with her fire as it twisted into various shapes. ”You back with us, Jasper?”

”Um- what?” I stared around in a daze, trying to figure out what was happening as I slowly lowered the revolver. I swear we were just in the middle of a fight.

Clyde walked over, going for a pat on my shoulder before pausing and dropping his hand. “Got some serious tunnel vision, son. Know we pulled you out before you were sent on your way to the war zone, but they didn’t teach you anythin’ while you were in trainin’?”

”Uh- they did. J-just actually fighting…” I slid the revolver back into its holster as I came up with an excuse. A weak one at that.

“I still remember when I first fought for my life. I froze up completely…” Moll nodded her head as she stood up. She waved a hand, causing all the rogue fires around us to go out immediately. 

Clyde snorted. “Well, I’ll be. Princess Perfect finally admits she did somethin’ wrong.”

“Better be careful or this princess will show you how perfect she can fight now.” The woman shook her head and motioned toward the bank. “Now let’s get a move on before anythin’ else shows up.”

”Right you are, my dear.” Clyde shuffled along, dodging the corpses of fallen monsters as he headed for the building. 

Wind blew through the abandoned streets, sounding like a lonely banshee. A chill went down my spine as I quickly followed after them.