Liam had heard gunshots before, but only in movies. He thought he was ready. But that was a fool's notion, ignorance at its best. He wasn't prepared at all. The loud noise the revolver made as he pressed the trigger was louder than what he expected it to be. He flinched slightly but thankfully it didn't affect the accuracy of his shot.
Bang!
The loud noise of the gun shooting was particularly loud within the graveyard. The bullet's flight went unimpeded, it flew straight towards where Liam aimed it at. It was a split second but it felt like an eternity as it went flying past the blade like tongue that was heading straight towards Liam, intending to split his head open like a piñata.
The silver bullet struck the monster's head cleanly, specifically its forehead. But it didn't pierce through its skin. Well, not completely anyway. It pierced the skin slightly, causing it to bleed black blood, so unlike human blood. It flinched, its head flying back a little. Slowly, like a prehensile snake, it moved its head to glare balefully at Liam. Their eyes meet, dark brown meeting red and white eyes.
'It hurt it. The bullet from Bringer managed to hurt it. Not much, but still. Every little bit helps,' Liam thought, analyzing the situation in his mind. His analytic mind grinded, honed by countless years of playing online games.
But Liam didn't have the time to think about it further. He needed to move! Now! The blade-like tongue was still moving towards him, ready to strike him down.
He moved to the side, jumping and rolling to avoid the attack that was heading towards him that would have incapacitated him, if not killed him outright. Fortunately, he managed to dodge it. He gasped, trembling slightly from the sudden exertion, at the sight of the broken ground and the shattered tombstones that the tongue destroyed as it struck them accidentally in his stead. He prayed silently inside his mind to whatever deity was listening, thanking God that he managed to dodged that.
'I need to not get hit by that. I seriously need to not get hit by it,' Liam thought nervously, knowing that if he did, his body will pop like a balloon. 'How could a tongue even do that?!' He shrieked internally.
While thinking that, his body didn't stop moving at all. He raced to the side, using the gravestones as possible covers to hide from its vision or possible shields if it sends its tongue again. He continued moving so that he wouldn't be caught by his hunter. He used every seconds he had, it was an obvious decision for Liam.
He immediately aimed Bringer at his chaser and pulled the trigger multiple times within seconds, shooting the monster in its various limbs. He didn't know what he was doing. He was just letting the battle instincts he didn't know he had and the unexplainable knowledge that suddenly appeared in his head after waking up from his grave take over his actions.
He followed what it was telling him to do. After all, it hadn't led him astray yet. And he's still alive, isn't he?
Bang!
Liam shot the right claw that the monster raised up, interrupting it mid-motion before it could slam its hand/fist/paw on the ground. It would have unbalanced Liam for a moment, he was sure of that, and it was something Liam needed to not happen. This was a high stakes game, a single mistake will cause him his life. He needed to stay at the top of this game of life or death, or he's game over. Game over here being death, being eaten by a monster or being ripped apart, piece by piece.
Bang!
A bullet to the left foot. It was a hit! And just as Liam expected, it made the monster jerked and then kneel as its limb gave away, the force of the bullet strong enough to unbalance it. Somehow, the force of the bullet from Bringer was strong enough to hurt it. It shouldn't have packed that much of a punch but it did.
But Liam wasn't questioning it. If something works, don't question it. Or somehow it might stop working. And that was the last thing Liam needed to happen.
Bang!
The throat was hurt. It must have hurt it much worse than the other shots because this strike made it angry, well angrier than it already was. "AAAAAWWWWWHHHHOOOOO!!!" It howled and growled somehow at the same time. It was a frightening noise, so loud that it metaphorically and nearly literally made his bones rattle.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The three shots Liam did to its torso was useless. It didn't even left a mark on its body. He noted it down in his head, knowing now not to waste bullets on its torso.
For a moment, Liam's eyes flickered towards the chambers of Bringer, checking how many bullets remained. His eyes shook at what he found. It was full. Every chamber in the revolver he was holding was filled. But that's impossible! He had already shot the monster 7 times! How could it be full?
Before Liam could think about it further, his attention was grabbed by something else. His instincts screamed and his head snapped back to look at the monster that was chasing him from behind.
It leapt into the air, clearly intending to pounce on Liam and closing the distance between it and its prey. The claws spread out, glinting sharply and menacingly under the crimson light of the Bloody Moon.
And Liam knew that if he allowed it close the distance between them, he's dead. Literally dead. There was no way he could outmaneuver it in close distance. He didn't have the speed nor the agility to be able to escape its reflexes. It was too big and too fast and too strong.
Liam noticed too late the gravestone standing in his path. If he stopped, he will lose precious seconds in decelerating and running around it. If he can't go around it, then he will just go through it. Or rather, go over it. Liam bent his knees and jumped up, his body twisting in midair. The hand that was holding Gardener, touched the top part of the stone before pushing against it to gain more momentum. He flipped over the gravestone cleanly and gracefully, as if he had done so before. Liam then continued to back flip over a few more times. It was oddly cinematic, Liam noted to himself.
If it was any other time, Liam would have cheered and wow'ed at himself, but currently, he was being chased down by a frightening monster. So no cheering for himself.
'Since when could I do that?!' Liam couldn't help but ask himself, bewildered. He was no gymnast nor was he ever that flexible before. He literally didn't know where those flips came from.
The monster bulldozed the gravestone he just flipped over, shattering it into small debris. Its skin, or what might pass off as skin to it, was undamaged. The small injury he had created when he shot its forehead was gone, as if it never even existed in the first place.
Enhanced healing? Or possible regeneration? Check.
Bang!
He took a token shot at its cheek, making it look to the side from the force. The gaze it sent towards Liam was filled with so much bloodlust that if it could be seen, it would have covered the monster in a haze of red and black aura.
And then he ran for the hills of course! He took great striding steps as he ran, creating a distance between him and the monster. Again. He had done more running ever since he woke up here than the entirety of his life so far.
"Gggggrrrrrrr!!!" It growled, clearly incensed at the fact that his prey had escaped again. But also slightly enjoying, in a bloodthirsty way, the struggle that Liam was going through. Every time Liam escaped from its grasp, the greater the desire to capture him grew inside of it.
Its claws cut the ground deeply before its body clenched and with a great push of its limbs, jumped forward in a great leap. Its body transitioning smoothly from 2 walking limbs into 4 walking limbs. It was faster now, like a wolf in mid-hunt. Its maw filled with razor sharp teeth opened and moved in a horrifying facsimile of a smile.
"Grahagrahahagrrrrhahagahagahagrrrrr!!!" Chilling noises escaped its shadowed mouth. It sounded like a laugh if it didn't have that eerie double echo like effect with grinding and growling noises that occurred in the background. It sounded so wrong, oh so wrong.
Liam heard it. Hearing it made shivers go down his spine. It was that frightening. He didn't look back. He knew that the sight of it hunting, of it moving closer and closer towards him would have added itself to his nightmares the next time he sleeps. Goosebumps appeared all over his body as he pushed his legs to go faster.
"AAAAAAAAAWWWWWHHHHHHOOOOO!!!" The monster howled loudly in its guttural voice. It had a passing resemblance to a wolf in both form and action but it was too monstrous, too horrifying to be something normal like a wolf. Liam would have quite preferably chosen being chased by a wolf rather than this monster.
He flinched, nearly stumbling in his steps as something shot past him and hit the ground ahead him. It made a loud noise as it embedded itself on the soft hallowed ground. Liam ignored it as best as he could. He righted himself and continued on running. Terrible laughing noises of the monster followed him like a nightmare as he went past the tombstone that was now haphazardly sticking out of the grass, filled with cracks.
Oh great. It had learned how to throw things at him now. Just great. How wonderful. Liam is so gonna die tonight.
"Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!" Liam couldn't help but repeatedly mutter as the idea of gravestones being catapulted towards his body, possibly bludgeoning him to death, finally settled in with the other traumas he had accumulated that night in his mind.
His instincts blared again like an alarm, causing Liam to drop down, roll, stand up again and then rush off towards the distance. With a single glimpse back, he deduced what happened. The monster had grabbed another tombstone and threw it at him, again. Luckily the monster didn't have a good aim because it didn't hit him. But he could have. The weight and force of the tombstone would have killed him instantly. Liam swallowed loudly.
He was at his limits already but he still tried to go faster, he pulled in any energy left in his body towards his legs so that they wouldn't fail him. So that they would move faster!
His eyes caught a glinting light from the direction of his hand. Yes! Bringer! His gun! A wild thought appeared in his head. If the monster could try to attack him with projectiles, then so could he.
Liam steadied his steps and roughly twisted his torso towards the side so that he could move his arm behind him. With unsteady hands as he wasn't used to doing this, he aimed haphazardly at what he assumed to be the direction of the monster's body and pulled the trigger harshly.
Bang!
Liam didn't even need to look back to know that he just wasted a bullet, it didn't hit his hunter anywhere close. As he righted his form, he managed to catch a glimpse of the monster. Unfortunately, the one time he looked back, he caught its eyes. There was a bloody glow to its eyes and its mouth ripped open wider, showing its nightmare inducing mouth proudly at Liam in a facsimile of a smile. He said facsimile because it was too jagged and too wide to be called something like a human expression such as a smile.
"Oh Jesus!" The sound unintentionally escaped his mouth. He was tired and scared and a whole lot of things. His foot was aching. The shoes he was wearing wasn't made for running inside a graveyard.
'Is there a shoes made for running in a graveyard?' Liam asked absentmindedly, his mind slightly floating away in thoughts.
Liam looked forward again but he caught sight of something in the corner of his eyes. A daring plan appeared in his head. It was a 50/50 chance of a successful escape or a straight way to a horrible end.
'Oh what the hell. Let's do it,' Liam thought to himself. He was gonna die anyway if this continues. Might as well stake it all on a wild gambit.
Liam wasn't a gambler. But for tonight, might as well play a game with Life and Death.
He checked the bullet chamber of Bringer again. Huh, filled again. No missing bullet at all.
So infinite, if not replenishing bullets, check?
He dug into his heel and twisted his body to face the monster. This time, he was gonna make sure his bullet wasn't going to be wasted. He aimed at what would be the private part of a human. Liam assumed it was the same for the monster, if not, atleast it was gonna hurt it. Badly.
It was a foul move, Liam acknowledge that. But still. He wanted to survive. He needed to live.
After all, everything was fair for survival.
Bang!
Liam pulled the trigger, making the bullet fly towards the pelvic area of the monster. It stopped, its mouth opening in pain and anger. Liam knew that he did the right thing, that he did it for survival. But still, as a man, he had a moment of regret at the fact that he just did that.
His shot did its job, incapacitating the monster for a short while. Unfortunately for Liam, it also made it really, really mad. Its eyes furiously glared him down, promising bloody murder upon his being.
