Storm of the End: Book One

Chapter XXI.IV: Glimmer of Hope

I let out a wild shout to snap myself out of my trance, aimed the machine gun and pulled the trigger. I had never fired an automatic weapon yet, so I only pressed on the trigger like I had for the other guns, sending a quick burst of bullets at the monster.

It squealed and sprang backwards, only getting grazed on the cheek. Tears welled in its eyes as it bared its teeth at me and wailed.

A third gunshot resounded from upstairs. I pulled the trigger again, this time holding it down so that a proper burst shot out at the thing. It ducked and dove along the wall as I fired, somehow avoiding the majority of the shots. One hit it in the joint of its right leg, causing it to stumble and limp.

With a triumphant cry, I used that momentary opportunity to line the gun up perfectly with the creature's head, but when I pulled the trigger all I heard was a click.

Did I... run out of bullets?

With but a second's hesitation, the creature lunged at me, launching itself off of the wall behind it, its left front leg shot in front of it, aiming the spike on the end at my face. I was just barely fast enough to bring the machine gun up to guard myself, the thing's spike broke right through it and grazed my left shoulder, tearing a layer of skin off and sending a shock-wave of agony through my body that put me onto my knees. The shattered pieces of the gun clacked as they landed beside me, one of them ricocheting off of my arm. I winced in pain, but before the thing could cut me up with those spikes, I grabbed the shotgun next to where I had landed, bringing it right up to the thing's abdomen as it swung its left leg at me. Just as it was about to connect with my ribs, the thunderous sound of the shotgun going off filled the air and a burst of blood splattered from the thing as it was sent flying back.

I cursed and grit my teeth together... it had hit me on my side, though not as hard as it had intended. It didn't break anything or puncture my skin, but it still throbbed with pain.

It howled, squirming and flailing around in pain. Its underside had a huge hole in it that almost went all the way through right where I had fired, organs visible and blood spilling out freely.

I raised the gun again and pulled the trigger... nothing.

So this one was no good, huh?

With a splat, a liquid splashed onto my scraped shoulder. I didn't realize what had even happened at first as the cut seethed with a burning sensation. I shouted with pain and dropped the useless shotgun as I felt... my pierced skin boiling. What the fuck was happening?

When I opened my wincing eyes, I saw that there was a dark green liquid sizzling as it boiled on my shoulder. I couldn't stop myself from screaming again as the pain mounted one last time before the liquid fizzled away.

I heard the thing gulp and gag, turned to see its broken body heaving as blood and gore leaked from the hole I had made. Some sort of dark green liquid was spilling out of its mouth, bubbling and frothing. Some of it dripped onto the corpse below it, forming a boil on the corpse's skin. I took a glance back at my shoulder, the scrape had almost been cauterized while boils had formed on the skin around it. Fuck...

So that's what did that to those people... was it going to spit that shit at me again? It kept gulping and hacking... it sounded like it was getting ready to cough up a bunch of the shit. It's inky black eyes spun wildly in its head as it stared in my direction.

Time seemed to slow as my eyes frantically darted around the room, searching for another weapon. There were plenty in the room but... they were all behind where the creature was squirming. Its flailing slowed, and its legs crouched as it howled.

There was no way I'd be able to reach any of the guns in time...