Age of Haunting

Kara cradled the crossbow gently across her lap. The night was quiet, as were all nights in Triskelon. No cricket dared attempt a mating call, no firefly dared reveal its presence. To be honest, after a century it was a question if they even lived after a century of living breathing nightmares.

The Age of Haunting. That’s what the citizens of Triskelon were calling it. Every night, children throughout the land fell asleep, and every night their worst fears stalked the land, killing, ravaging, all they could find. No one’s quite sure how it started, few people seem to give a damn anymore. Having your entire village massacred overnight by a kid’s fever dream has a way of changing your perspective from long term to very short term. Kara was sure there was someone somewhere trying to solve this age old riddle.

The trees across the grove rustled. She peeked over her makeshift foxhole watching nature’s wooden giants sway like bushes as something big moved through them. She twisted, leveling her crossbow at whatever was looking to emerge from the forest. Her brain ran through the list of things she had, trying to assess if she was prepared for something this big. Six silver-tipped bolts rested in the magazine of her weapon. Two more magazines rested on her leather belt. Three Dragon’s Breath bombs hung from her left hip, which may or may not be useful. Most of these monsters hated fire, but she'd seen some exceptions. She also hoped she wouldn’t need the silversteel axe across her back. Getting up close to these things was never a good idea. Number one thing children fear is the scary thing getting close to them.

The trees moved again. Spindly legs poked out of the wooden curtain, carrying a creature roughly the size of a house.

Kara typically named these creatures with the first thing that came to her mind. This one was definitely “Wolf Spider.” It had a long furry canine snout with needle teeth and a long forked tongue. Eight beady red eyes clustered in groups of four on either side of its skull. It’s front “legs” were long furry arms with skeletal hands and razor sharp claws. It’s rib cage appeared to be split open, the spider’s actual legs protruding from the grotesque opening within. It had no hind legs, but a snake-like tail, barbed like that of a scorpion.

Her name might not be accurate, but “Wolf Scorpion” didn’t sound great. The creature moved across the field at alarming speed. The forest would provide the most cover, but the field would provide the cleanest shots. Kara needed to choose her battlefield.

She picked one.

The bolt whistled through the air, it’s shrill cry sang into the night. The shot was wide. At its current speed, there was no way she was making that shot. Fortunately, her ammo had a dual purpose. The sound mimicked a child’s scream, it enticed the beast, and any hunter within a 80 yard radius will come running.

The beast turned, as predicted, racing towards the woman now moving into the field. Another bolt, this one intending to hit. It struck the beast, squarely in the shoulder as it charged at her. She caught the glint of metal spiral away towards the ground.

Shit.

Kara’s body lunged to the left. Too late, a raked hand tore into her leather coat, as it threw her across the field. She fought against her body, going limp as she tumbled away, rolling in the thick grass. If the drunkard has one lesson to give, besides don’t be a drunkard; it’s that going with the flow ended with less broken limbs.

Didn’t stop the pain, though. She picked herself up, in time to see a tail swing at her from the right. Kara pushes harder against the ground, her body leaped up. The air rippled as creatures strike passed beneath her.

Kara unhooked her axe. It’s hide was too thick for a clean shot. She’d need to cut and burn through it to do any damage.

So much for keeping her distance. Her eyes locked with the creature's legs, dancing about with leather grace as it swung and maneuvered around her. Her legs moved. Her body twisted. She swung.

The axe bit in. Not as deep as she’d like, but progress was progress. Kara spun round in time to see a claw reach for her.

Too slow. She managed to block the hand, but the creature had a hold of her axe. It pulled, throwing her forward, to the ground again; her weapon flying. She rolled, firing one, two, three shots at the spider’s face.

The first one glanced.

The second one stuck.

The third struck home. In its attempt to snap at her with its horrendous maw, her third bold managed to find a place in the back of its soft pink throat. It didn’t appear to do much, but the creature’s yelp and retreat was all she needed. She made a run towards her axe. Firing her last two bolts behind her.

The spider screamed in pain. Kara scooped up her weapon, spun round to face the creature, now convulsing and shrieking in pain. A silvery glint of light shone from one of the creature’s eye clusters, now dripping with putrid black blood.

A lucky shot. Here’s hoping it lasts.

Kara clicked a new magazine in her crossbow, debating whether a bomb would be prudent. The creature was wounded, reeling. She nodded to herself, now was as good as any. She unhooked the apple sizes powder bomb, striking the fuse against the lighter on her belt, she ran forward, lobbing the explosive towards its face.

The sound of thunder cracked through the air. Flesh shredded like paper as shrapnel and fire covered the monster's face; ember nails digging deeply into soft tissue, revealing bone.

That’s a weak spot if she saw one.

The beast moved to get to its feet, meeting its assailant with sharp teeth, a swinging tail and a swing of its arm.

Kara ducked and twisted, away from the tail, using the creature’s own head for cover. The beast had over compensated, slapping itself across the face with the force of his blow, giving an opening…

Kara swung. The axe shuddered as bone splintered from her strike. The beast faltered. Again the axe ripped through the air, biting deep, as a chunk of skull flew free.

Another bomb. Kara places it into the gaping black wound. She jumped back witnessing the monster's skull bulge and crunch.

Silence. The creature lay motionless, it’s head little more than a bloody sack of pebbles. Kara dared not move. Her eyes locked on the creatures motionless corpse. Fingers reached for the box of matches she kept in her boot. Nightmares had the pesky problem of never really dying. Maybe when they get older, the monsters will fade from existence and everything will get back to normal. Maybe a new generation of kids will bring them back.

Fire seemed to be the only thing that kept them away for a while Instead of simply coming back to their old body the next night, they'd have to build a new one from whatever dark abyss they come from. Kara refused to believe that children were responsible for all the mayhem around her. These things wanted a scapegoat for their existence, and children were perfect. She moved towards the foul smelling beast carefully, axe in hand. This was the worst part of the job: the anticipation pounding through your veins. Adrenaline unsure whether to trust your senses and recede, or remain alert and vigilant. She'd seen too many people taken out by a creature playing dead. They were really good at it.

Kara dropped the match in the pool of black blood forming around the wolf spider's head. It reacted like lighter fluid, quickly licking up the putrid flesh and sizzling along the wet bones. A sigh. Relief rolled over her. as the flames took quickly, and the body dissolved to ash quickly under its advance. It was short lived. A child's cry pierced the sky in the distance. Then another. Then a third. More nightmares had appeared. Kara pushed herself past the exhaustion that threatened to grasp her, forcing her legs to run to the nearest cry. This was going to be a long night.