The Trace

Chapter 7

The air around us is frigid as we sit on the rooftop of a two story book store. The street below us is a main street that goes all the way through the remains of the city. old broken down cars clutter the street and undead of assorted ranges of decay roam the streets. I had pilfered a simple black hooded sweatshirt to shield against the cold and was armed only with my combat knife. Minx was wearing the same outfit as she had in doors where it was warm.

A couple blocks down the street a government patrol rounds the corner. Five in all the soldiers carry two bit axes while the captain follows along with pistol on his belt. From its size it seems to be. 45 caliber semi-automatic handgun.

I nudge Minx with my boot and she gives me a disproving glare. She had been snoozing after not having slept for several days. I tilt my head in the direction of the patrol and she nods standing up and stretching. The patrol was now only a block away we crouch down and wait for them to pass beneath us.

The soldiers walk quietly and silently dispatching the meat bags that got in their way. Wearing all black the soldiers looked like shadows walking down the street. The captain is clothed in all black except the blue stripe around the helmet. He remains at the back of the patrol doing nothing while his men did all the work.

Minx draws a single sai while the soldiers slowly approach our position. I leave my knife holstered and get down into a ready postilion. Minx drops down on top the soldier in the front his bones audibly snapping under her weight. I jump down behind the captain and pull his pistol from its holster and put him into a sleeper hold. caught unaware the man quickly fell asleep. I turn to assist Minx but one soldier already lay dead with a sai in his eye and the other two run into an alleyway. Before I can stop her minx tosses a grenade into the alleyway. The grenade goes off collapsing the buildings on both sides of the alley.

" That wasn't necessary!" I hiss as I shove the captain toward her."

"No witnesses right?" Minx says in a matter of fact way." Wouldn't want them going back and telling the people who have your friends."

"Even so that was a really ba..." A load roar cuts me off as a disfigured corpse of a soldier comes flying out of the alleyway over the remains of the buildings. A gargantuan, disfigured creature jumps over the rubble and lands on the soldiers corpse crushing it. It stands wheezing and growling at an alarming 13 feet tall and is about as wide as a small car. It's arms are long and somewhat lanky compared to its frame but its legs are similar to columns on ancient Greek buildings. Rippling muscle connected to deformed feet the size of people.

"Run." I hiss quietly to Minx but when I looked behind me she was already gone. "Well that's one less thing to worry about." I mutter as I look back at the monstrosity before me. I had seen them from afar before during the night time but I had never seen them in the day. It looks toward me and its face is disturbingly blank. Extremely inflamed its face looks rotund and swollen. Its beady eyes look at me. It leans forward and crouches down then in an instant it throws itself forward with its tremendous legs.

I barley roll to the side as the behemoth slams into the building behind me. The building falls from the damage burying the monstrosity. Taking the chance I run a block away and scale a two story building.

Crouching down I catch my breath and hide. After my pulse had came back down to a normal pace I peek over the ledge and look back at the building. The beast was stomping around and looking around. Probably looking for me. I pull out my knife and aim high and chuck it towards the gray abomination before me. The knife arcs and come down towards the things head. Hitting it just below the temple the knife sinks part way into its head. The thing looks around as if it had heard a fly. It walks back into the alley way it came from as if nothing had happened.