The sirens began
sounding at about five in the evening. I was walking through one of
the tunnels along the road. When I heard them I ran out to the open
and looked down a the beach. Sure enough the large doors were
closing, sealing off the sand from the water. The guards on the wall
were standing at ready, rifles raised. It was happening again, like
it had so many times before.
Maybe I just never
got used to it, or I didn't want to. Either way I never felt truly
ready for it. It was a massacre. The amount of people that died
every time they came to pay us a visit was horrid, and the death toll
seemed to rise every time.
It was happening
again, and just as before I wasn't ready. I waited. They would
come. The wall and doors merely slowed them down. But they would
come as they always did. Slaughtering and destroying. The soldiers
always did their job valiantly. But it was just never enough. So I
waited. Sword drawn, ready for another fight.
An old man
approached where I was standing and looked down at the wall too. We
watched as people scrambled up the beach away from the wall.
“It always
surprises me for some reason,” he said.
“I know what you
mean,” I replied.
“Just when I
think they've stopped attacking, they come again,” he said plainly.
“I often wondered
whether or not they want us to just stay out of the ocean...”
“Why would you
wonder that?”
“After every
attack we always go back to playing amongst the waves. Surfing and
swimming. It is their territory after all. Maybe they would stop
attacking if we stopped invading their space.”
“Makes sense...”
the old man said as he turned and walked away.
And there was the
first one. It came crawling over the wall on all fours like a human
looking spider. It was shot immediately by a guard. But a minute
after that move were coming...and more...The wall was soon swarming
with the creatures and they began making their way over to the other
side. They would be running up here any minute. I held my sword at
the ready. One minute. Two minutes...three minutes...here we go.
They were running up the road towards me. A dozen of them at least
were there. I sprang into action. Twisting and twirling my deadly
dance until they all lay dead, their green blood glistening on the
ground.
And so it
continued. The attack lasted a good give hours. When it was over
the body count was surprisingly not as high as it usually was. At
least, there were more dead creatures that there were humans. I
cleaned my blade and went home. Well, instead I went to the coffee
shop near my home. I was hoping to meet my friend, Grizzly Dan
there. He was biggest toughest grizzly bear in the city. But he was
also a very good friend. He looked after as best he could. No doubt
he had been fighting down at the beach somewhere too...but he hung
out around here a lot...so I sat at the bar.
“Two decaf lattes
please,” I said to the girl behind the counter.
She made one and
handed it to me.
“Oops, I forgot
to make it decaf, let me remake that for you,” she said pulling it
back. She blushed slightly. She was new. I hadn't seen her there
before. I was about to ask her if she was new, but I already knew
the answer, and I didn't want to sound like a jerk.
“No problem,”
was all I said with a smile.
“You were
fighting down at the wall weren't you?” she asked admiringly.
“Yes, I usually
end up doing that,” I said, “you see I spend a lot of time at the
beach. I'm a lifeguard.”
“Oh! Very cool!
You carry that with you all the time then?” she asked pointing to
my sword.
“Yeah usually...I
find it safer to have it with me.”
“Oh for sure,”
she said handing me two lattes, “there we go, two decaf lattes.”
“Thanks....Mary...”
I said reading her name tag.
She smiled, still
blushing, and bustled off to do dishes.
“There he is!”
came a gruff voice from behind me.
“Dan,” I say
getting up, “how are you?
“Good,” he says
holding a smoking cigarette between his paws. “One hell of a fight
am I right?”
“Meh, I think
they're losing their touch to be honest.”
“How many did you
kill?”
“Forty-three.”
“Ah good once! I
got twenty-four...but I'm not as good as you of course.”
“Ha, thanks Dan.”
Dan lowered his
voice.
“Want to go do
some black market gambling?”
“Sure why not,”
I said with a shrug.
“I found a little
place out back, come on,” he said getting up.
I followed Dan out
back to the ally. He pulled back the chain link fence which led into
a passage. I followed him down it. There was a light at the end of
the tunnel. We walked towards it. We entered a kind of chamber.
There was nothing in there but a table and some chairs. Next thing I
new we were attacked. Dan was knocked out. But he landed right on
one of the attackers, crushing him flat. The other attacked came at
me. It was a rabbit. He held a knife.
“Welcome oh
foolish wanderer. You now must die for invading our sanctuary.”
“But I thought
this was a gambling den.”
“It is for those
who are worthy of it. You are far from worthy You are a worm, scum
of the earth. You are pathetic and evil. I demand your blood. We
love blood, and we want your blood.”
The rabbit began
cutting himself on the arm in eagerness for blood. He did it so much
that he felt faint. He dropped the knife and fell to his knees. Not
wanting the rabbit to suffer I picked up its knife and thrust it
slowly into its neck.
