Chapter VIII
“Where the hell am I?” shouted Ginger angrily, as she regained her
consciousness.
The last thing which she could remember was being knocked out by
someone or something in the village. She was fuming over her
constant losses to Mel, and Mel went out of the hut to leave her to
her own sulking. All of a sudden, she felt something really solid
slammed hard against her head, and that was when she lost
consciousness.
Things didn’t look good now though, with a bunch of freaky looking
things staring at her, and…
Wait. I am hanging in mid-air? Thought Ginger, as she
tried to grasp what was happening around her.
“Why the **** am I hanging in mid-air like
a decoration or something, and what the **** are you shit faces?”
screamed Ginger, as she struggled to break free from the ropes that
was restraining her movements.
The creatures merely kept their silence, and their creepy square
eyes continued to stare at her. The silence was eerie, and despite
the fact that they were obviously alive, none of them budged even a
single muscle. This just only made it worse for Ginger, for she had
no idea what these freaky things were up to and was hoping for at
least some response.
A vine burst forth from the ground and entwined itself around
Ginger’s head, effectively keeping her mouth shut. Ginger tried to
scream for help, but she could not even move the lips of her mouth.
After a short while, she fell into unconsciousness again due to
asphyxia. Only then did the vines released their grip around her
face and went back into the soil.
“I am sorry my dear, but it is not time yet. You need not worry
though, the time will be upon us soon enough.” hissed the shadowy
figure hidden behind the Tiamats.
“But for now, we will have to due with your pesky little friends.
To think that they could have so easily avoided the ghouls lurking
around the town…they are really a troublesome lot indeed.” the
being continued, as it slithered into the darkness covering the
town.
“That wasn’t funny at all! What the hell are those things?” asked
Mel, as the trio hid in one of the room of an old
hotel.
It wasn’t hard for the group to sneak into the town, but what they
saw in it really shocked them. The rusty metal chairs were
‘walking’ about, and so were the streetlights; along with many
other objects. There was even a life-sized bronze statue which was
missing a fragment of its head prowling about, as if it was on the
lookout for something.
Cac led the other two and they managed to make their way into the
old hotel without being spotted by any of the parading objects.
There, they wondered how they were going to search around the town
for Ginger with the freak show going on
outside.
“Those objects are possessed by spirits of those who were killed in
this town by the Tiamats. They are said to be controlled by
something and are acting against their own free will, though the
people of my village have no idea what is controlling them.”
answered Yix, who was just as surprised as the other two
were.
“I am pretty sure that there was only an extremely small amount of
them when I last stepped foot in this town. It seems that whatever
is controlling them is already expecting someone to enter the
town…” exclaimed Yix, with a worried look on her
face.
“I guess that means our puppet-master has his, or her, hands on
Ginger already. He or she is expecting us to show up, and sent the
jokers outside so that they can deal with us. I just hope that
Ginger is safe for now.” said Cac, who was busy looking out of all
the windows one-by-one in order to find a safe route which the trio
could take.
“It is amazing, and also scary, how you can figure out so much in
so little time.” whispered Yix, clearly taken aback by Cac’s
analytical skills.
“I will take that as a compliment. But for now, we will have to
wait for the lot outside to move somewhere else before we can make
our way further into the town. Meanwhile, you can tell us more
about all the things which roam about in this town. I don’t think I
will want too many surprises popping up later.” exclaimed Cac, as
he sat down on the wooden floor with the two
girls.
As the other two listened to what Yix had to said, all three failed
to realise something had made its way into the hotel, until they
started hearing the sound of the wooden floorboard
creaking.
“What was…” before Mel could finish her question; Cac covered her
mouth and signalled for them to start following
him.
“I know you are in here, sweeties, come on out! Don’t keep me
waiting!” the being said, as a wide grin formed on her
face.
It slithered up the stairs the way a snake would, and its eyes
darted about, looking for any signs of
movement.
“This
is bad. It is a Lamia, an evil creature that is an advance Tiamat
which has very sharp senses. There is nowhere for us to run now.”
whispered Yix, as she peeked through a tiny hole in the
floorboard.
“Take Mel with you, Yix. I will deal with it.” replied Cac softly,
as he made his way down the stairs.
“Be careful.” said Mel, as she took the stairs to the upper floors
with Yix.
Cac took out his pistols, and as soon as he reached the level
below, he walked towards the room which the Lamia was
in.
“Surprise!” yelled out the Lamia with her unnaturally wide grin, as
she slashed at Cac from the behind.
Cac, on the other hand, didn’t seem surprised at all, as he leaped
forward and started running with the Lamia hot on his heels. He
knew that it would be dangerous to face that creature head on,
given that a slash from its claws would probably rip him apart. The
speed of it was also incredible, even though it had a tail in place
of two legs. But he had a plan in mind.
The Lamia wasn’t about to let her prey got away so easily. She
started spitting gobs of liquid from her mouth at Cac, who barely
managed to dodge them while keeping his speed constant. As soon as
the liquid touched the walls and the floor, they began to melt away
into nothing. Cac realised that the Lamia was spitting acid at
him.
“It is pointless running, sweetie. Just give it up!” laughed the
Lamia, as she increased her speed in a bid to close up the distance
between and Cac and herself.
Cac
suddenly stopped down and turned around. Despite this, the Lamia
continued towards Cac, baring her wide fangs previously hidden in
her mouth. Her eyes were full of glee, as she lurched
forward.
All of a sudden, the floor below her gave way and she fell through
it. Stretching out, she managed to grab hold of the damaged wooden
planks with one of her claws, and dug her sharp nails into it. With
her tail dangling in mid-air, she tried to pull herself back
up.
“Goodbye
monster.” said Cac, as he unloaded a few bullets into the Lamia’s
head.
The Lamia fell down, and continued its descent through a few
floorboards before hitting with a loud thud on the ground floor.
Just to be sure, Cac fired a few more shots, but there was no
response from the creature. Sure of his kill, Cac went back up the
stairs to look for the other
two.
They could sense it. One of the reapers had fallen. Heading
towards where the gunshots were heard, all they found was the body
of the reaper. The intruders had gotten away, and they could be
anywhere in the town now. If they were to not deal with those
intruders quickly, they risked facing the anger of their mistress.
But for now, they would clear up the body of the fallen
reaper…