The Cavern – Part 15

The creatures fur was fully gone and in it’s stead a strange shiny scaliness. It was bigger and tougher looking. I didn’t have time to think as I dashed forward but my weapon just glanced off of the armour and I skittered wide, I turned back in time to see it closing in on the other woman who was crippled from dropping the crate of tins on herself, we were not trained soldiers non of us where, though I as a child of the council had had many defence classes and the such like. I swung the stick bringing it in contact with the creatures head, the jolt of impact jarred me so painfully that I staggered back whilst it was only shuffled slightly to the side.

I thought I was about to loose the first of the fifteen in my care but the woman picked up the crate once more and with her large girth threw it at the monstrosity. It smashed into the thing causing it to loose it’s balance, a sickening crack made me think that perhaps it’s chest had caved in. I swore as I saw it push the crate off of itself and begin to rise again.

Yellow blood, thick and gelatinous from a puncture wound, oozed. The corner of the crate had done it work but it still kept on as if nothing had happened. Screaming the woman – Anchor (for I was only just remembering their names) began scoping tins that had rolled around her feet, chucking them at the reanimate. I removed the climbing knife from my belt and rushed forward, I’m not sure I really thought of a plan as such there wasn’t a blinding flash of an idea just a vague shape of something and I didn’t really know what was until I jumped on the things back. I hugged on tight trying not be thrown off, I had one arm wrapped around it’s throat but that was doing nothing with the armour plating, I reached round with the knife and plunged it into it’s eye socket, I felt the resistance of the blade and then the sleek smooth sensation as it slide into the softer flesh of the orb and then it snicked on bone.

I didn’t process any of this at the time, it would occur to me in shuddering moments through the next few days. Anchor broke the creatures teeth by ramming a tin in it. I dropped inelegantly from its back as it staggered around the injuries becoming too much for it. It toppled over comically, straight backwards, I felt the hysteria rising within me once more.

We were both manically giggling when the others finally came round the corner from the head quarters container – in truth the fight must have taken moments but it had felt like a very long time and a flash of a second at the same time.

Once we had calmed down we performed the right and sat Anchor down to check her mangled foot, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been as she had been wearing relatively sturdy shoes,

Then we all ferried crates of tins into our container until we had a wall of food. The others had found lighting and bedding when they returned and one of them was desperately trying to get a flood damaged generator working. I was I confess surprised by all the things we had been able to salvage.

I was desperately trying to clean my climbing knife when my lecturer and the others returned with a few canisters of water – not as much as I would have expected.

‘We lost two canisters,’ he shrugged seemingly out of sorts.

‘We had to fight two! TWO!’ cried on of the larger males of the group.

‘At the same time,’ squeaked the thin pale weeper. I nodded mutely, they seemed energised but I know there was only a matter of time before one of us was killed and then what? How would they react to that?

‘Well done,’ I managed and then stood and looked at the edge of the lamp light – I wasn’t sure but I thought that perhaps there was movement out there.

‘I think we should get in and rest whilst we can,’ my lecturer nodded and I followed them in with one last glance around and there just coming into the lamp light was a jerking figure, an arm jutting at a strange angle from it’s side. I shut and bolted the door and killed the outside light, what remained of intelligence in the reanimates? Animals soon worked out that bins meant food, that signs of people meant food – surely we were living on borrowed time.

I did not say anything but rather instructed the preparation of food, it was a strange mix we had as the tins were what ever we had chanced upon first. No one complained and we ate in companionable silence. We were all pretty tired but I took first shift on look out. I doused the lights as gentle and not so gentle snores filled the air. We were safe for the time being but we would need to make some sort of trap door in the container so we could check from the top if we had the all clear – as it stood as soon as we were all rested and fed we would have to open the doors to the dark cavern beyond and just hope there was not a horde out there awaiting us.

I sat and planned – there were other containers to bust open and I needed to see exactly how much water there was and the trap door and then of course we would need to work out the best plan for getting us out of here. I swallowed nervously – we had to get.

The medic had made stim to drink but it was rationed to those who were sitting up doing the watch – I sipped my gratefully and awaited my lecturer, he nodded at me and sat down with his fresh stim some hours later and I gratefully slipped into his now vacant covers to sleep. Sleep didn’t come as readily as I had hoped but eventually I was drifting and a deep fatigue seemed to consume me.

Posted: Sunday, January 19th, 2014 @ 9:56 am
Categories: Series, The Cavern.
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