Chapter 77: Retreat
Miles looked up from where he lay in the snow. He glanced around for a moment before finding Sarah and dragging her close. He wasted no time in pulling them both up, even as his muscles groaned under the force.
A window frame on the second floor of the building behind them was cracked and broken in multiple places, visible even through the haze. It looked like something had forced itself out.
An awfully familiar screech rang out behind him, piercing through the sound of the storm. He didn’t bother looking back to check what it was before he made a run for the kitchen’s open door.
The snow and stiffness made moving hell. Every step forcefully cut through layers of snow, dragging both his and Sarah’s weights through the pile. He barely felt his toes now.
Still, his attention remained doggedly focused on the path back to safety.
The monster behind let out another screech, then there was a heavy thud, then another, then more in quick succession. The thing was moving.
In front of him were Grimm, Brandon, and Chloe. The latter two had surpassed him due to the weight he carried, while Grimm had always been in front.
’Dammit.’
There was little he could do but focus on putting one foot in front of the other.
The thuds grew nearer in turn, sounding like a full-on sprint. Then, suddenly, it stopped. He heard a whistle of something sharp cutting through the storm. Instinctively, he realized it wasn’t aimed at him, so he didn’t stop, not even to see what it was or who it was targeting, and continued pushing for the door.
Grimm, already at the door now, turned back and threw a barrage of three stones overhead. They exploded somewhere behind Miles, but there were no screams or any reactions of the sort, so it was hard to tell if they’d been a success.
Brandon and Chloe made it back too, wasting no time before diving into the safety of the room. Miles was in the final stretch now. Ryan and Mia were still somewhere behind him.
Grimm picked up a couple more stones and unleashed another salvo at the creature behind. Only a few feet away from that precious door now, Miles could finally afford to look back.
Two stones exploded harmlessly in the snow, while one blew up on the pale shoulder of the large creature. A jagged wound appeared in its place, yet it barely fazed the beast.
Its two heads, one eyeless, lipless, and almost vestigial, and the other, a normal ghoul’s head, both growled in annoyance. It only stopped them for a moment before they continued plowing forward effortlessly in a feline manner.
The same thing they’d met in the hallway.
A blackened set of arms supported its weight, while another arm, made of pointed bone blades, struck out for the nearest person to it.
Mia.
She wasn’t caught unprepared, having been glancing backwards to keep an eye on the beast. She pivoted just in time to find a bladed arm barreling towards her chest.
Her skin immediately bloomed a bright red blush, then she caught the blade, much to Miles’s, and he presumed everyone else’s, surprise.
The momentum behind it pushed her backwards, her legs digging trenches in the snow. Blood dripped from the hands holding the blade. Yet she stood her ground.
’That’s not just the effect of some ability, is it?’
He knew she was an athlete of sorts before the apocalypse hit. What exactly she’d been doing? He couldn’t say. But she must’ve been damn good at it. That had to be the reason for her reaction speed.
As Miles dragged Sarah inside the kitchen, the creature finally reacted. Its second bladed arm lunged for her, and there was no way to dodge with both hands already occupied holding the first blade.
Grimm was still searching the floor for stones when another barrage flew towards the beast. From Ryan. He stood closer to the door, but didn’t dare enter without her.
As though remembering the effects of the previous barrages, the creature froze, pausing its attack for a moment. The projectiles landed harmlessly in the snow.
That moment of pause was all Mia needed. She shifted her grip on the blade, squeezing it before pushing it backwards.
Once more to his surprise, the monster staggered a few steps backwards. It barely began recovering when Grimm hurled a new wave of stones at it.
The monster didn’t even flinch this time, registering them as harmless, and all four landed directly on its body. They simultaneously exploded with a bang, tearing open new wounds across the creature’s fused torso.
It screeched in a furious pitch, slashing both its bladed arms into the ground below with reckless abandon. But Mia was already gone.
It stopped when it realized that it was hitting nothing, growled at the two figures running towards the door, then it dashed.
Both Ryan and Mia barreled inside. The former class rep immediately slammed the flimsy metal door behind him shut, tightly bolting it.
"It’s going to break through!"
Miles dropped Sarah inside the storeroom, then poked his head outside to find Chloe speaking. She tossed her bat towards Mia.
The girl struggled, barely catching it with her injured palms.
"We have to ambush it."
The monster slammed into the door with a bang, instantly deforming it and almost completely breaking the bolt entirely.
Ryan dived to the side, almost tripping over a body as he began rummaging through the kitchen equipment for anything he could use. Mia, in turn, pressed herself against the wall near the door, clenching her teeth as she tightened her bloody grip on the bat.
The rest went as far as they could away from the door, with Grimm running into the storeroom. Miles hid under the central table; Morgan’s hand dangled over him from above as he waited for the inevitable.
The monster crashed into the door the very next second. It flew open with a resounding bang, bolt and hinges shattering as it did. It was barely even connected to its frame anymore.
Its heads and torso burst through the opening, and at that very instance, Mia swung.