Once a God drowned here

Part 7

"Sir, how did you escape the fish monsters?" The solders asks me from the balcony as I climb out another manhole where the young mermaid told me my comrades would be.

"I got someone who helped me out." I want to introduce the mermaid to my fellow soldiers but right as I turn back to the young girl she is gone. Now I stand there with my story.
"I guess I just found a lucky way out." Revising what I said I stand here like an idiot. The soldier must have not assessed the situation not to its full capacity.

"Sir, you should come up here. We are in a dire situation. The soldiers have hidden in the highest floor. Up here the fish people don't patrol. Up to this point no fish has shown the ability to climb very well or fly. Eve is the first to meet me. "Sir, we were set up and ambushed. The fishmen came from every angle. From the buildings, out of the sewers and from the sea." The situation is tense. Glancing through the room I count Thirty-four soldiers. We were decimated hard. Once a company of a hundred and fifty men we are now not more than a firing squad. The whole mission has been a disaster. The wisest approach from this point onwards is to retreat and burn the whole town to the ground. Peter, my second men is also there. His left side is bandaged from what must be a heavy injury. He is sitting on a chair holding his wound which is already soaking up with blood.

"Peter!" Bowing down to him I hold his shoulders. I am truly grateful that he is alive. Peter has followed me into every dark corner of the world. It would be a shame if he would find his end in this fishing nightmare. We are left to die in this situation. There is no chance for us few people to escape. There is one possibility that could help us. But it will take several hours for our help to arrive.

"Do we have a telegrapher?" I ask into the room.

"Sir, we could rescue a telegrapher. The man responsible for carrying it was killed." Hopefully there is still someone who can handle it.

"Is there a telegrapher among us?" Hopefully someone alive knows to to handle the messenger.

"I am, sir." One man raises up from the ground. He has been wounded on his left leg. He humps through the room. He sits next to the machine preparing it for communication.

"Sir, who should I contact?"

"Contact whoever is available. They shall reach out for the military. Tell them we are in the town of Beachswallow and that we need heavy reinforcements. The code is: unica semper avis." It is a secret military code that will grant us the help we need.

"What should we do now, sir?" A legitimate question. There is literally nothing more to do for us except waiting.

"Now, we'll wait. There is nothing more that we can do on our own. For now we just wait."

A couple of soldiers sustained some smaller or larger injuries. We tend to treat them. The time fashions to be very stressful. I find myself unable to find much rest because of the ever dooming threat of being found. We all share our ammunition we have left on us. Also there are more than a few spare rifles for me to pick a new one from. Morality is low and we all need to process what just happened. The hours fly by. Fish people walk up and down the street, from the harbour to the market place. The large hooded figure remains inside the market place still acting up a religious practice. Fish come and kneel down before the hooded one receiving some kind of blessing. Fish come and go while the priest goes on with his rituals his staff becomes a point of interest. It holds a foreign piece of metal in its hand. It must serve the same purpose as a staff of prayer. Entirely red in colour it is nothing I have ever seen before.

By night the fish are most likely going to sleep. They have to sleep at sometime. We wait until the sun hides behind the hills that surround the town. In the coverage of the nights darkness we will leave our hideout to leave the place. Once we get out I will set every gear in motion that is even in the slidest inside the reach of my power to eradicate the entire town.

We are faced with a rather big problem. Some of the men are injured to the point that they can not move properly. They need aid to walk so that we are only ten people who can move on their own. Leaving the house is the first task at hand. Two of the men go outside first to take a look into the street for an opening when we can move. All in silence we descend the stairs sneaking along side the street walls. No fishmen are visible.

I lead the small group of survivors. If any fish step into our way we will deal with them by only sticking to our knifes and swords. We move in silence. Fortunately the fishmen do not seen to know how to use firearms or even what they are. So they at least not shot at us and raise awareness in the process. Around every corner I take at least a second look to make exactly sure that no one is spotting us. If only one word about our presence gets loose the whole crowd of fish will hunt us down.