Chapter 13 - Danger Lurking

1/29/2020 --:--

The next morning, Robert woke up before anyone else. Walking to the edge of the lake, he watched the sun rise, painting the sky pink as mist drifted lazily off the surface of the lake in the cold winter morning. Hearing footsteps behind him, Robert turned and saw Emma striding up to him. Emma was the last person at watch duty that night.

After standing in silence a few minutes, Emma looked back towards Ryan and Lucy still sleeping with a loving expression of tenderness on her face. “Sweet things aren’t they?” She said to no one in particular.

“Ryan is a nice kid, and his sister seems solid.” Robert said. “So, what is your connection to Ryan and Lucy?”

“Well, I don’t want them to know yet, but I am their biological mother.”

“That makes sense, but why don’t you want them to know yet?”

“It’s a lot for them to take in; they just arrived in this dimension and found each other. I will know when the moment comes.”

“Okay.” Robert was then silent as he watched the sunrise. Suddenly, he became aware of a rustling sound of something in the long grass along with the breaking of twigs. Looking over at Emma, he saw she heard it too. They both drew their swords with a ringing sound, the sunrise gleaming off their blades, Robert’s heavy, powerful broadsword, and Emma’s light, swift, lethal katana.

Ryan and Lucy, who were woken up by the sound of the drawn swords, scrambled to their feet as three large Eviscerators pounced from some bushes with savage snarls. The Eviscerators made shivers go up and down Ryan’s spine. Giant, muscled creatures with heavy armor plated bodies, they were terrifying to behold. With four large arms that ended in clawed hands with three inch long claws, they could easily shred anyone.

Their figures were roughly human, but with large blades extending from arms and mouths filled with hundreds of needle-like teeth. Two of them were seven feet tall with the third one towering at nine feet. Screaming their battle cries, Emma and Robert charged towards the Eviscerators and engaged them long enough for Ryan and Lucy to equip their weapon belts, but not long enough for them to put on their armor. The two seven foot Eviscerators continued to fight Emma and Robert, as the third one charged towards Ryan and Lucy, all six limbs pounding the ground.

Hands shaking, Ryan shot at the charging Eviscerator and missed. Ryan, not having enough time to reload, drew his daggers and waited, terrified. The Eviscerator pounced the last several feet towards Ryan. Petrified with fear, Ryan was unable to move.

“Ryan!” Lucy screamed, as she knocked Ryan out of the way with her shoulder. Turning to face the Eviscerator, she was able to block two of its arms with her daggers, the blows reverberating through her arms, making them numb. The other two arms struck glancing blows on Lucy’s shoulder and side, ripping skin off and making her scream. The Eviscerator landed full force on Lucy, stunning her.

Fear for Lucy galvanized Ryan into action. Jumping onto the Eviscerator’s back, he slipped his dagger between the plates of armor on the Eviscerator’s top two shoulders slicing the tendons; rendering the arms useless. Roaring in pain, the Eviscerator threw Ryan off its back. Whirling to face him, it swung a heavy blow at Ryan’s daggers, knocking them out of his hands.

In that moment, Ryan realized that without his daggers, the next shot would be a deathblow. Leaping to grab his daggers, Ryan was snatched by the Eviscerator and finding him helpless, it began to crush the life out of him with its powerful arms, seeming to find joy in slowly killing him. Ryan cried out in pain as the small spines on the Eviscerator’s armor plates on its arms and chest pierced Ryan’s torso like hundreds of tiny thorns.

It was like being shut in an Iron Maiden, but on a smaller scale. Ryan’s vision grew blurry as he was unable to breathe. All of a sudden, Ryan was released by the Eviscerator as it began shrieking and thrashing around, clawing at its head before finally lying still. Ryan looked up and saw Lucy holding his crossbow standing above him with a pale face.

Lucy, coming to and seeing her brother engaged with the Eviscerator, ran to his crossbow and loaded it. Then she had snuck up behind the Eviscerator and fired the crossbow into the back of the Eviscerator’s head. The steel bold head shattered upon piercing its target as it was designed to, and sent many small sharp pieces of metal into the monster’s brain, killing it.

Ryan’s crossbow falling from her limp hands, Lucy fell to the ground on her knees and started crying. Ryan, seeing Emma and Robert finishing off their opponents, crouched down in front of her and gathered her into his arms. “Why does everything here have to be so violent?” She sobbed into his shoulder. “I was so scared for you, you almost died!” she cried.

“It’s okay, it’s all over now.” Ryan said softly. “I’m okay and you are okay and everything is going to be all right.”

“But why did it have to be this way? I did not want to kill anything; I just wanted to protect you. Why do we have to be here?”

“I don’t know.” Ryan replied quietly with tears in his eyes. “I don’t know.”

Emma slid her katana between two armor plates on her opponent’s right lower arm and jumped back. With only three functioning arms left, her opponent screeched and charged. Emma ran towards the incoming Eviscerator, sheathing her katana as she drew a slim knife in either hand.

At the last second, Emma slid between the legs of the Eviscerator at the last second, and as she slid underneath it, she sliced between the plates on its legs, severing the tendons beneath her opponent’s knees. The Eviscerator collapsed to the ground behind Emma. Emma quickly whirled around and threw her two knives into the back of the Eviscerator’s neck where it meets the skull, severing the spinal cord, killing it instantly.

While Emma was finishing off her Eviscerator, Robert finished a powerful slice to two of his opponent’s wrists, severing one in a black spurt of blood, and shattering the bones of the other. The Eviscerator screeched in pain as it countered with a powerful swing. Robert jumped out of the way, letting the Eviscerator’s momentum cause it to stagger as he spun with all his might, allowing his sword to gain tremendous momentum. Finishing his spin, Robert brought his sword crashing down in a vertical slice on the Eviscerator’s head.

The blow split his opponent’s head open like a ripe melon. Black blood and brains spewed everywhere from the vertical cut before disintegrating into black dust with the rest of the Eviscerator. Running over to Lucy and Ryan with Emma, Robert asked “Are you guys okay?” Lucy, wiping away her tears, nodded and stood up with Ryan.

Robert, seeing Lucy’s bloodstained shoulders and side, and Ryan’s bloody torso, took out some salve and a couple rolls of bandages from his pack. Emma took a roll and some slave from Robert and rolled up Lucy’s sleeves and shirt and applied salve and bandages to her shoulders and side. Robert and Ryan turned their backs to Lucy to provide her privacy. After Emma and Lucy were done, Robert had Ryan remove his shirt so he could clean and bandage all the small puncture wounds on Ryan’s torso.

Lucy and Ryan’s wounds taken care of, Robert said to Lucy and Ryan, “Nice work with that Eviscerator guys. I was worried for you kids. That Eviscerator was a nasty one.”

“Thanks.” Ryan replied grimly as Lucy merely shuddered in response.

“Let’s get going back to Fort Stalwart.” Robert said, hoisting his pack onto his shoulders as Emma finished packing.