This is ridiculous. David thought as the corporal was carrying him over his shoulder like he was a dirty, 75Kg towel as they marched through the forest. Either by gods grace or sheer dumb luck, they had managed to escape from the town without being seen by the creatures. From what he knew of this area, they were most likely planning to cut through the Blind Maiden's pass, a path that was created as a result of a volcanic eruption a few decades ago. This pass is most famous for holding the majority of the iron, copper and sulphur mines in the province. As such, the King had ordered the construction of Fort Azazel just a stone's throw from the aforementioned pass. David was brought out from his thoughts by a series of curses muttered by the corporal after he almost tripped on a root. David snickered a little under the gag even as he flet the corporal look at him with an angry glare.

Before he could say anything however, they heard rustle of leaves. Within a split second, everyone was on full alert. The corporal raised his trench gun while the lieutenant raised her assault rifle. The remaining person raised a weapon David had never seen before. What followed was absolute pindrop silence as the entire forest seemed to quiten down. Even the crickets which had been chirping just moments prior.

As expected from an elite unit such as the pathfinders, the trio had taken position in a way that they are able to cover each others flanks. David himself was tried his best to survey his surroundings as much as he could. The silence that ensued was unnerving. The trio held their breaths, ready to open within a moments notice.

"What do we do now?" the corporal whispered. It took a few moments before David heard the lieutenant's reply. "On my mark, we'll run towards the pass. If any of these creatures had attacked the mines, the garrison from Fort Azazel would have been mobilised. They most likely have a perimeter set up already."

David felt the rest nod as they readied themselves. "Now!!" the lieutenant ordered and the trio began sprinting. Not long after that, inhuman growls began to filled the area as some thing began running after them. David tilted his head only to be greeted with a shadowy figure sporting a pair of large red orbs. David let out a muffled yelp which seemed to make the corporal run faster. The sergeant suddenly turned around before leveling his weapon at the creature before pulling the trigger. What followed was a large barrage of bullets that hit the creature, sending chunks of its body flying before the creature collapsed on the ground.

"Huh!! That wasn't so hard." the sergeant yelled out. Causing the rest to stop their retreat as well. But at the next moment, they heard more growls which were then followed by several more pairs of glowing eyes from the distance. The color seemed to drain from the sergeants face as he began firing while slowly stepping back while the other two resumed their retreat. The sergeant joined them shortly after after killing a handful of their pursuers.

David suddenly noticed a more glowing eyes approach them from their left flank. Upon seeing this he began yelling "left" over the gag. Thankfully, the corporal seemed to catch it as he fired his trench gun at them approaching enemies. Trees splintered as the pellets from the shot took out several of them as the corporal cocked his weapon.

"Oh god, no." David heard the lieutenant mutter just as the surrounding began lighting up, indicating that they were approaching the pass. However, the lieutenants words indicated that something was wrong. David soon found out why as they passed the make shift barricade the soldiers had made. The barricade and its surroundings were filled with corpses of those creatures and soldiers. The creatures had managed to bypass the perimeter somehow and was most likely infesting entire pass.

No sooner had he thought that when suddenly, a loud roar echoed through the night. "Oh my god. What the hell is that?" David heard the sergeant panic before felt large tremors approach them rapidly. "Run into the mines!!" the lieutenant yelled as the rest followed her. All the while, the tremors just got closer and closer.

Suddenly a loud crash happened night next to David before he heard the lieutenant say. " Take the other shaft. We'll regroup further inside." The corporal then diverted his route allowing David to see the destroyed remains of a truck blocking the mines entrance.

David felt the world go dark as the corporal, seemingly entered another mine shaft. Just a another crash happend right behind him. David strained his neck to look up and saw another truck now embedded into the entrance followed by an extremely large hand glowing eye that was peering into the shaft.

What have I got myself into? David thought as the corporal took a turn leading them away from the entrance and whatever was beyond it.

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