4
I dawdled forward, the broken table leg in my right arm, popping my neck muscles, and stopped a within a meter from the beast, taking a defensive stance. A gust of cold wind forced me to shiver, and my eyes to squint, the strength in my hands weakened drastically. Several shards of broken glass were scattered throughout the carpet, creating a haphazard environment, definitely a terrible place for the children to linger. Stomping on my left foot, I dashed with every bit of strength I had, slamming the table leg into the creature’s head, and felling it with a good, follow-up blow to stomach. It released Thomas, the lady’s fiancé, and I grabbed the broken man with my free hand, throwing him back like a ragdoll at the lady’s feet.
“You monster,” she whirled, bending down towards him, her teary eyes upon me. “Why would you throw him like that? Have you no heart?”
“Just be glad I didn’t kill him for being such a nuisance,” I snarled, turning around do face the creature, to continue our battle. “Now leave, and don’t let me see you again.”
From the corner of my right eye, I caught a glimpse of the children helping her carry the man up; they walked slowly out of the dining room, exiting through the door, and into the cold blizzard.
“You will pay for that,” the mutant chimera boomed, standing up, revealing a pair of hidden flintlocks from its chest armor.
It shot me in the abdomen twice, felling me to the ground—the pain I felt alerted me that these were no ordinary bullet wounds. A tentacle came out of nowhere, wrapping around my right leg, pulling me closer to the menacing creature. I looked up, blinking, before being shot three times in the right cheek, and fell to the ground again in pain. Why did I not get invulnerable skin, when I acquired my immortality?
“Why won’t you die?” it asked, shooting me again in the head with the ancient gun, attempting to end my life.
When it ran out of bullets, it emptied out the blank cartridge, its attention drawn away from me, and that was the opportunity I had been waiting for. I somersaulted up, plunging both of my arms on its jaw, before breaking it off. The creature’s eyes widened up, and if fell to the ground, dead. The deed was done, and the house was safe, but deep down, I could no longer deny that I felt empty, like something was missing. What was this maddening feeling inside of me? Oh, well!
I reached down, retrieving the guns from the creature, and other things of value from its pockets, and started walking towards the main door. So many things were wrong with this place; the residents were hiding a dark secret, I could feel it in my bones. I walked through the library, most of the books damaged by the powerful wind, the chandelier on the floor, tiny, spiky shards of glass sticking out of the carpet. On my left, besides the main door, I saw a closet, and one of its doors was still open. It had been raided, mostly likely by the fleeing children, and the only remaining piece of cloth was this cloak made of sheep’s hair. I picked it up, traded it for the one I was wearing, and strolled through the front door. And as I took the first step out of the mansion, the power of the blizzard overwhelmed me, and tried to throw me off to the side. And taking into consideration the icy, wet stairs, the frozen guard rails, I would have fallen, but this was not my first walk in a blizzard.
The moon shined brightly, a group of grey clouds making their way towards it, and the snowy winds deadly. I coughed, skipping over the stairs, and landing on the paved ground, looking for any signs of the children. A few tire marks were engraved into the snow covered ground, leading all the way to the gate; and to my disappointment, they had taken all of the vehicles with them when they vacated, meaning I had to hike back to the town. To be certain, I scouted around the whole manor, looking for another vehicle to borrow, but my search was in vain. And as I was about to leave, I spotted the barn, covered completely in thick snow—the only place I had not searched. I trudged towards it, my feet covered in snow, both of my arms wrapped inside my coat, and stopped at the double doors. It was locked by some electronic pad, requiring a specific key to be jammed inside it, for it to open. These people are really living in the past, I thought. Leaning back, I slammed my shoulder against the door, using all of my strength, doing it forty times, until the left side of the door gave in. My right shoulder bones were broken because of this, but at least it was open. Crawling through the small opening, looking in all direction, I walked around, attempting to find anything to aid me in my brave quest. Weapons, food, money, it didn’t matter to me, as long as I could leave this pathetic rubble of a planet.
“Jackpot,” I yelled, at the first signs of useful weapons, stacked on the furthest wall in front of me. “It’s about time something finally went my way.”
Shelves amongst shelves of artillery were lined up against the wall; there had to be at least four hundred rifles inside, a few hands guns, and three wind-up grenades. Upon closer inspection, I realized that all of these weapons were all wind-up weapons, requiring a certain amount of air pressure to be forced in, before they could fire. Note to self: kick the whole town in the rear, except for the children, when this is over. I think, I understand why they were having a hard time dealing with these mutant chimeras.
Abruptly, I heard what sounded like a powerful gun go off, the sound very close, and I rushed outside to see what was causing the commotion. Up above me, the same projectile that had crashed me into this planet was coursing into atmosphere, making its way to an unsuspecting victim. I scanned the area, and from what I could make out, the projectile had been fired from a location masked behind the hills overlooking the small town. I spun back into the barn, picked up two rifles, three bandoliers, a silver dagger, and all of the grenades. I wish I could have taken all of the weapons; however, I couldn’t carry that kind of weight for a long distance.
“Here we go,” I exhaled, placing a hood on my face, and a cloth over my nose and mouth.
Exiting the barn, I hiked through the snow at a steady pace, plodding through the gate, with no signs of the guards at the entrance. I saw the trail of blood and broken glass by the guard post and it didn’t take me long to figure out what had transpired.
The forest, in front of me, was covered with white snow, and the blizzard was making it hard to see anything. Turning my head down, I started to follow the road, hoping it would lead me back to the town. I needed answers from them, and if anyone tried to stop me, I would lay claim to their lives with my own bare hands if I had to.