The New Era |Apoclypse Sequel|

Chapter Ten

I followed the man through a porch and he led me to the testing ground.It was smaller than the other one I've seen, it was made of an expanse of green grass and there were many more tools scattered around the perimeter. I could feel the adrenaline growing through every single muscle just looking at all that goodness.

«So Mr. Stone», an examiner held out his hand to me and shook it in greeting, «All you have to do is stand in the center of the field, wait for one of our non-humans to attack you, and fight, it seems pretty clear to me, am I wrong?»

«Yes, I only have one question... do you also intend... to kill them or...?», I asked hesitantly.

«Even killing them, of course, is the first rule, Mr. Stone, never have mercy», he crookedly smiled.

I wasn't really thrilled to murder anyone. But as the examiner said, I wasn't asked to be merciful. After all, when I would be needed in war, the last thing I needed to do was worrying about being too kind to those who would attack us.

«Shall we begin?», the man who had accompanied me here asked.

The other examiner waved me to go, and as requested, I went to the center of the field. I waited starting to feel some anxiety, accentuated by the fact that I saw Drew Rosenberg peeking from the corner of the pitch.I was brought back to attention by a sudden gust of wind that hit my body. I looked over my shoulder to be able to defend myself, but a violent push made me fall to the ground. I got up with a quick sprint and I was faced with a skinned creature.

«What the hell is this?!», I yelled at the examiners in terror. One of them laughed and gave me an answer.

«This is the body of a dead sorcerer. We borrowed it for rehearsal», he grinned.

That could only mean I needed to kill someone who was already dead.

He leapt forward to catch me but I was quicker and I headed for the weapons depot. I took a pistol and a dagger and I started running on the opposite side of the monster.The fact that he was already dead meant that only when one of the examiners ordered him could he "shut down". How to make a puppet out of an innocent person who already left this world...I realized I was distracted when I collided with another monster. And when I turned around, I saw that there was no longer just one, but five of them appeared. And I had to slide under their legs to get out of the circle they created around me. I reached my arm towards them and I fired, trying to waste as few shots as possible, but all of them were wasted on them, because every bullet that pierced their "skin", came back.I crawled across the lawn to dodge them, I got up and found myself surrounded again. I fired more useless shots to their heads hoping that hitting them would have worked, taking a damn bullet to my ankle. I felt excruciating pain. But I had to try not to think about it, so I gritted my teeth and I limped along until I reached two of them and pierced them with the dagger. They screamed in a chilling way, but they once again multiplied from two to four now.

I had to find a weapon that would save me, not try to kill me. They pushed me several meters away, slamming my back against the wooden wall of the military climbing facility, again I was surrounded by seven monsters. An idea flashed into my mind, I grabbed the rope above the structure, I grabbed it and hit each of them with my feet, causing them to stagger backwards.I climbed to the top, and with a good dose of courage, I leapt down and landed on the body of one of them who shattered like a pile of bones. Short of breath and with a bleeding ankle on fire, I ran to the depot where there were still three weapons. I took a very thin blade in my hands and I let them come closer to me. I waited for the right moment, when they would be closer, and I then moved my wrist to throw it at them. I understood from the handle that it was a kind of boomerang. He managed to take out two of them... but the third who was hit... sucked the blade into his "body".It was a plan... it was all a plan. I understood their game. They were just waiting for me to run out of weapons so that that blade could be the only one left... and I would have to fight with my bare hands to pick it up and kill the last one left.I took a deep breath and ran, sneaking into the ground-level path. Mud, barbed wire, a gone ankle... how clever I had been, very clever. The cluster of four remaining monsters reached me without feeling the slightest pain, so I had to start walking down the path. I crawled under the unbearable burning of the thorns on my back, I held my breath as a thread fell and hit my ankle, getting stuck on it and then tangling around it. They were the ones doing it, with the spells taken from I didn't know where, but they were twisting every cord around my body... I had to close my eyes when one scratched my eyebrow.How could I have gotten out of there?I had another idea and without thinking, I let the brambles tear my shirt as I stood up, so I had half my body free to untangle. My hands were filling with bloody cuts but I didn't care, I absolutely had to get out. I tried not to cry because of the pain, and when one of the creatures approached me, I clung to his shoulders and I managed to pull myself out by throwing him inside the path. He growled but then, as if on command, he died.So there were three left... and I could still see the blade inside one of them. Again I went to the depot and I picked up the last two weapons left: a sledgehammer and a fifty caliber revolver.If those bullets bounced off me they would have killed me instantly, it only had two rounds in the barrel, I had to make sure I didn't waste them.I aimed at the head of the nearest one and I pulled the trigger as he quickly moved. I heard the blow echoing in my ears and I saw an explosion of blood bounce off me. I thought it was mine, but then I realized that the bullet hadn't ricocheted, it had exploded inside him. So, I used the last one against the other guy but I missed the aim and hit his arm, which to my disgust, remained dangling from his forearm. I threw the weapon to the ground and I ran at him, holding the bat firmly. I tried to hit him but he dodged every move, he blocked my arm squeezing it harder and harder and with a pain beyond imaginable, I kicked his chest to be able to free myself and hit. His head split in two, and with each hit he collapsed more and more to the ground, until he died for the second time, breaking the bat I held in my hands in two.I was left face to face with the last survivor.I fought the pain in my ankle which was increasing visibly and I waited for it to approach me. It had to be within attack range, so, as it reached the missing few inches I immediately, at a speed that didn't allow for mistakes, took a breath and I pierced his chest with my right hand. I touched the blade that cut my skin, I ignored the burning I felt and I pulled it out with force, it was also covered with blood as I was. For a moment I thought that thing wanted to attack me again, but he didn't, the monster fell to the ground helpless and there was a thunderous applause throughout the area.