The legacy of the dark blood

Chapter 46

The orphan of Henoth

It was close to five in the morning in the middle of the dark sea of nightmares that marked the woods near the Henoth sector of Reich der Finsternis; the dense fogs covered their entrails and from the tree branches the crows emitted their shuddering screeches. Nick and Liz's watch was over, both rested in the hut awaiting the dawn while Bernard faced the desolation of the panorama all alone, with the obligation to wake his companions only if something out of the ordinary happened.

Bernard had discussed the matter of the girl in the cabin with Nick, although the officer did not give it much relevance and told him that unless it was something truly important he should not comment further. He watched the cabin with a certain air of calmness, doing exercises to keep himself distracted and shake off the overwhelming sensation that the eyes of evil were watching him from the bowels of the forest of damnation. Certain slight movements were detected amidst the leaf litter that in the end were nothing more than a hare and a raccoon. He spent some time with the horses, which did not leave the area and were feeding in some bushes.

He made a short tour of the area carrying one of the rifles that the fallen German agents had left behind. There were so few houses that it was hardly possible to consider such a place as a village. The wounds on his shoulder and face still bothered him, but he was willing to put up with that as long as he never entered the woods at night again.

He was making his way around the hut; there was, however, a noise, more abrupt than any he had heard since the beginning of his watch, that caught his attention. Footsteps of a person a little less than a meter long could be heard all around. Bernard sensed the worst, he made an effort to fill himself with courage and ran with his assault rifle in hand ready to face any adversity, but to his surprise, there was no danger looming; the silhouette of a small blonde girl running towards the largest of the huts was behind it. He went to alert his companions, but stopped short after a shadow approached him; he was glad to find out it was Liz.

"Everything all right with you?" asked the girl, observing her companion's worried face with half-open eyes.

"Yes, I guess so- he answered looking towards the big hut" Listen, something ran that way "he pointed to where the girl was lost".

Liz was worried that this was an omen that something terrible was about to happen, but Bernard suspected it all the same. He remembered seeing a little girl's face through the windows, which he told Liz about; they both agreed that the best thing to do was to investigate. They were afraid to wake Nick, as his reactions were always unexpected and he might not like the idea of investigating a cabin in the middle of the night, deviating from his main goal; before they could go looking for him, he was already at the entrance of the cabin fixing his expressionless gaze on them.

"If you're going to investigate over there now, it better be something important," Nick warned them, reloading his rifle.

"It could be a little girl in trouble" Liz walked in front of Nick to confront him, she couldn't stand that level of indifference to other people's problems, "I think it's your duty as an officer to help those who need you".

Nick wiped his eyes in order to visualize everything clearly. Without speaking to Liz, he simply walked toward the cabin past the officers and prepared to investigate.

"I hate it when he does that!" Liz complained, crossing her arms. Bernard was already behind him and so Liz grabbed a small machine gun from the armory to raid the cabin.

Enough time had passed outside the forest areas and the surrounding villages, Liz had already forgotten how desolate and sinister the night landscape was. Although deep down they were pleased to know that there was no threat in a ghost village, the atmosphere inside that absolute spectral silence was oppressive.