Chapter 3: Girl In Red
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Liam had a plan.

That was the truth. But it was also a lie.

Liam had a vague general idea of what he wants to happen. The problem is how to get there from point A, the point where he’s being chase by a monster, to point B, where he’s not being chase by a monster.

Bang!

Liam took another potshot at the monster, this time at the joints of its knees. And luckily, somehow, it had hit again. It was a mystery to Liam how he was able to even shoot and hit the monster that’s chasing him but he wasn’t exactly complaining.

‘Come to think of it,’ Liam thought, ‘I haven’t missed a single shot yet,’ But he then shook his head to straighten out his thoughts. He doesn’t have the time to investigate or ponder over those mysteries yet, he still needs to get away from the monster.

With his arms swinging vigorously as he ran for his life, Liam jumped and flipped over large stones and gravestones, not planning to go around them at all. To stop and move around obstacles would have only slowed him down. It’s better to just go in a straight line and just jump over anything in the way. His new found limber body and gymnastic talent was being used to the fullest.

He saw it closer, the place that he saw earlier. He has to get there. Liam just has to go through this copse of trees. Without looking back, he went straight in, his figure swallowed swiftly by the shadows casted by the big trees. There was nearly no light for Liam to see anything but luckily, the path was pretty straightforward and easy to navigate even with reduced light.

Every step he took was noisy, his feet stepping on every sticks on the path and loudly breaking them. If he thought the shadows was going to hide him well, well, he was wrong. And it was useless in the first place. The monster was a creature of darkness, a hunter. The reduced lighting wouldn’t have impeded it the slightest. Much less so when he’s making such a loud ruckus.

Liam could feel his hair standing up, goosebumps rising up in his flesh. The monster was scary but this place was also scary in another way. The darkness, the moving figures in the shadows and the sudden silence? It was a different sort of terrifying. It was the fear of the unknown.

The monster paused for a second and gazed into the darkness before howling loudly, so loud that it shook the leaves in the trees. Its claws raking great jagged wounds on a trunk of one of the trees close to it.

“AAAAAWWWWWHHHHOOOOOO!!!”

It snarled and galloped into the woods. But just as it stepped into the darkness, it became like a shadow, silent like the evening night. A true hunter of the night.

As the monster disappeared, like Liam, into the darkness, unknown to the two was that someone else was watching everything that was happening. The howls had attracted the figure and seeing the brief fight between the monster and Liam had ignited the person’s interest. And worry for its fellow living being. There was worry there, yes, but there was also interest if Liam could triumph over the monster.

The figure stepped out of the shadows of a mausoleum and gazed after two of them and at the direction they went to. If they weren’t wrong, that direction leads to…

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Liam had been running for nearly a minute now when he finally saw light. It was pretty far away but he could see the end, the exit of what seemed like suffocating darkness that threatened to swallow him whole.

It was just a few meters away and he would be out of the copse of trees he willingly entered when his senses screamed again. He immediately knew what that meant. His time was up. IT had caught up. The monster was here.

Liam’s head wildly swivel in all direction, squinting at the darkness to see anything, maybe a silhouette of the monster that’s hunting him. But he couldn’t see anything, not one single hide or hair or scale or feather of that thing.

To the left? None.

To the right? Nope.

Behind? No, no, no.

In front? Impossible.

Wait…

Could it be…

Up?

Liam, while in the middle of running, raised his head to look at the canopy. And that’s where he found the monster. It was jumping from one tree to the next as it bounded closer and closer towards Liam. Even though it had such a huge body, it was moving lithely and silently from one tree to the next. From the looks of it, and from the large claw like scars on the trees, it has been using its claw to climb up and not fall as it jump from trunk to trunk, branch to branch.

‘It’s not just all muscles and claws. The monster was also smart and cunning. If my instincts weren’t hypersensitive because of all the chasing, it might have caught me unaware,’ Liam thought, alarmed greatly at how near it was already.

Its eyes were full of intent, its eyes narrowed as it gazed at the fleeing figure of its prey. Something inside of it was screaming, thrashing wildly in its chest. It confused the monster.

Yes. No. Yes. No.

It wanted the prey. Greatly.

And whatever it wanted, it gets. By force. By blood. By claws. And by fangs.

The monster smiled a bloody grin. It was excited, its blood was racing. He jumped and landed at a particularly large and stable branch. It tilted its head and released a loud howl.

“AAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWHHHHHHHOOOOOOOO!!!”

Prey!

Prey!

Prey!

Death!

And with that final thought, it jumped from high above and went straight down directly at the running figure. It stretched out its claws and aimed it at the back of the small figure below it.

Liam jumped forward just at the nick of time. He nearly got hit by the sudden attack of the monster. He rolled a little bit before straightening his figure into a running position again. He pumped his legs as his ears pounded loudly. He nearly missed the loud crashing noise behind him because of how distracting his fast beating heart was.

He looked back, dumb move he knew, but he wanted to know. He gasped out as his eyes stared for a second at the small crater and at the monster at that created it. Their eyes met, hazel colored orbs meeting white and red orbs. For a second there, there was a spark. But it was swallowed up by the fight or flight instincts that was blaring loudly inside of Liam’s brain.

Liam raised his gun and shot it at the face. This was his fight instinct.

Bang!

The bullet cleanly landing at the monsters cheek. It deformed as its head tilted backwards. The head snapped forward back, the cheek grotesquely healing.

“Oh come on!” Liam exclaimed at the unfairness at the fact that the monster had a self-regeneration ability.

Well, if you can’t fight it, you flee.

This was his flee instinct.

He ran as hard as he can, pumping his legs with all of his might. Tightly clenching both Bringer and Gardener’s hilt, Liam’s mind raced as it thought of a plan to win, to survive.

Finally!

With a burst of speed, Liam finally got out. He didn’t look back as he ran forward. He knew that it was still chasing him, he could hear its loud steps hounding him.

The ground he was running started to slope upward. It wasn’t a surprise if you think of where they were. It’s only natural, you see.

After all, Liam and the monster was running towards a cliff.

Yup. A cliff. The graveyard was situated near a cliff. And the structure that Liam saw earlier was the edge of the cliff. The giant crimson moon could be clearly seen high up in the heaven.

It was beautiful. Truly so. But Liam didn’t have the time nor mood to appreciate the sight because of the current situation of life and death he was in.

Liam’s legs were burning as he slowly stopped at the edge of the cliff. Breathing hard, his lungs contracting and expanding rapidly to inhale more air into Liam’s body. He gazed far into the horizon, into the city a few miles away. It was familiar to Liam but there was a weird feeling of alienation mixed in. He didn’t know. There was so many questions in Liam’s head.

He slowly turned around and faced the monster. There was a firmness, a steel in his gaze. His gun, Bringer, on his right hand, and his knife, Gardener, on his left hand. He gripped their hilts tightly in his hands.

“So…” Liam said to the monster. He didn’t even know if it could understand. Maybe he was feeling theatric and dramatic because he was saying the words out loud as if it could understand his words. “This is the end of the line.”

“Grrrrrrrr!!!” It growled out, in what Liam assumed, in reply.

He lowered his body, aimed the gun at the monster and raised the knife higher a little bit into a ready position. Liam grinned with too many teeth showing.

“Well! Come get me! You monster!” He shouted!

Bang!

The loud noise of Bringer shooting heralded the beginning of their final battle, the end of the hunt. This was where Liam or the monster, or maybe both of them, will fall.

The bullet flew straight towards the monster but it was agilely dodged. Its tongue rolled out from its mouth and stretched out high in the air before slamming down into Liam.

He jumped to the side to avoid being hit by it, but he wasn’t able to escape from the rocks that exploded out from the small crater that was created. A small sharp rock flew and cut his cheeks, causing crimson blood to trickle down his cheeks and down his neck. It was stinging but Liam had no choice but to ignore it for now. The pain was being held back by the adrenaline rush that was flowing inside his body.

For the first time, Liam used his knife. Gardener, with all of his might, was slashed at the appendage that was in mid-air. Liam thought it would have just bounced back, like how some of the bullets did, but it didn’t go how he thought it would be. The knife was sharper than he thought because it parted the flesh of the tongue with ease. Black blood sprayed out into the night air. Blackish blood staining Gardener, Liam’s shock expression morphed into an excited expression. The sight of the monster screaming in pain as the tongue ricocheted back into its mouth lifted his hope up.

But the pain had angered the monster greatly. It slammed its palm on the ground and grabbed out a slab of rock. The black monster threw the rock at Liam who wasn’t able to dodge in time.

Pain! Pain! Pain!

“Aaaahhhh!!!” Liam screamed out in pain, his left hand was practically on fire with pain. He hadn’t been able dodge the rock completely, it had hit his left hand, breaking it. Whimpering, Liam bit his lips, his left hand still holding on to Gardener.

Liam wasn’t given the time to look over his clearly broken arm because the monster continued to press its attack. The tongue came out again and it was like an arrow as it came straight towards Liam head. Liam couldn’t move wildly because of his left arm. All he could do was crouch as it swiped at his head. Thankfully, his right arm was still capable of used. He aimed Bringer and shot wildly and repeated at all of the vulnerable points he had noted earlier.

Bang! A bullet to the neck!

Bang! Bang! Two bullets to the elbows!

Bang! Bang! Two bullets to the knees!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Three bullets to the pelvic area!

But unlike the previous times where he hadn’t missed a single shot, this time a few of his shots missed. It was because of the pain, it was distracting him. And his broken arm was messing with his balance. But many still connected, hurting it greatly. Black blood stained now the grass, along with a few splashes of Liam’s own red human blood.

The monster growled in anger and pain. Sharp teeth snapping at his direction.

Cradling his left arm, Liam stood up. He bared his teeth at his enemy. ‘This can’t continue,’ he thought. Liam’s stamina wasn’t infinite. He’s gonna lose in a battle of attrition. He was nearly out of energy to continue this fight. He has to end it soon.

It was time to enact his plan. It was a stupid and cliché plan that he’s taking out from movies. But it was all he could think of. And the stupider the plan, the more plausible it was. He thinks.

Liam switched Bringer and Gardener. Now, his gun was in his broken hand and his knife was in his still functioning hand.

This was it.

‘You can do it, Liam,’ He thought to himself in an encouraging voice.

He took a deep breath before loudly shouting. “Aaaaaahhhh!!!” Liam ran towards the monster and the monster did the same. It bounded towards Liam in great loping steps.

It stretched out its claws to swipe at him. If it had connected, it would have ripped his flesh to pieces. But Liam limberly fell and slid down the slope of the cliff to avoid those sharp claws. As he slid down, he raised Gardener and in a reverse edge grip, he drove the knife in the monster’s chest. And because of the motion of Liam’s sliding body and the lunge of the monster, there was enough force to cause the knife to slice open the monster from sternum to gut.

Liam’s wild action might have hurt the monster greatly but it had also jostled his broken arm. The exposed skin also got rubbed raw by the slide, beads of blood dripped out from broken skin. Through gritted teeth, Liam stood up and watched as the black creature stood up in its hind legs and wail in pain as the skin of its cut up chest flapped open.

But it was where Liam wanted it. He did another switch of weapons. Bringer was raised and shots were fired wildly at it. Every shot was aimed deliberately to push the monster further back. Shoulders, knees, head, crotch and sliced up chest. They were all aimed at. It flinched, taking multiple small steps back. Liam made full advantage of Bringer’s infinite ammo.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

It growled at Liam and he replied by wildly grinning at it with too many teeth showing.

“Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!”

“AAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGG!!!”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

They were both wailing at each other as Bringer’s trigger was repeatedly pulled. The loud noise of repeated gun shots and howl of the monster echoed out into the night air, breaking the silence of the graveyard.

By the end of it, the monster was finally at the edge of the cliff. One small step back and it would fall. Their eyes met. Liam’s bright eyes meeting the hunter’s gleaming eyes.

“Goodbye.”

It was Liam’s final farewell to the monster that had been chasing him since the moment he woke up in his grave.

He pulled the trigger that would push it over the cliff, to its death.

Bang!

And it hits the place where its heart would be if it was a human. It was the final push that tipped it over. With a roar that shook the air, it fell backwards off the cliff.

“GGGGRRRRAAAAAAAAA!!!”

There was a loud noise of something hitting the ground. And then silence returned.

Liam sighed in relief. He inhaled deeply and breathed out. With tired steps, he walked up the slopes of the cliff again. But this time with no urgency in his footsteps. He gazed out into the dark sky and then at the moon for a while. His then turned his eyes at the city a few miles away.

There was a mix of emotions in his heart. Before he could ponder over it, he heard the snapping of a twig behind him. Swiftly, he turned around to face whatever caused that noise. His stiff figure relaxed a little bit when he saw not a monster but a woman in red.

“Who are you?” Liam asked. The woman opened her mouth to reply but immediately shut it close and her expression suddenly became blank.

She was just a few meters away but in a flash, she was directly in front of Liam.

‘Fast!’ He thought in shock at her speed.

“What-” Liam’s words got cut off at what happened next. If he was surprised at her speed, well, her next action shocked him further.

She raised her left hand in a blur and then suddenly there was a large sniper rifle in her hand. And the barrel was aimed directly at Liam.

“Oh god!” Liam exclaimed. He was shocked at the sudden turn of events. Why is he so unlucky? He just escaped a monster and now suddenly a girl in red points a gun at him. Why does everyone want to kill him?

He opened his mouth to say something to her. But it was too late. She moved faster than him. The trigger was pulled.

Bang!

Liam reflexively closed his eyes, waiting for the bullet to hit him. The noise was louder than the one generated by Bringer, he noted. It was deafening as it was shot so close to Liam.

A second later, there was nothing. No pain. Only the ringing of his ears.

He opened his eyes, peering warily at the girl. She was still in front of him and the large sniper rifle was also still there. It was so close to Liam that he could literally peer down into its barrel and see the smoke wafting off.

He noticed a moment later that she wasn’t even looking at him. She was looking at something behind him. Or maybe at someone. A thought, like lightning, flashed into Liam’s mind.

He turned around and gasped at the sight of the black creature that he was sure had fallen earlier off the cliff. “Oh Jesus!” With a panicked expression, Liam aimed Bringer at it again.

But he didn’t have to because a second later, it stiffly fell off the cliff again. With a thundering heart, Liam grasped at his chest with his unbroken hand.

“Thank you…?” Liam said thankfully, and a little bit still confused, as he faced his savior, his voice tinted with uncertainty.

“You’re welcome,” She replied with a smirk.

“Um, who are you exactly?” He asked a second later as his heart slowly started to calm down.

She flipped her long luscious hair over her shoulder, showing off her slim and creamy shoulders.

“I’m Brunhilde.”

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