Primal Gambit

Chapter 69: Monsters and Men

Like the phantom of a man-eater, he loomed over them, hovering from side to side, his silhouette casting shadows above them in the dark. There was no time to be spared for the soliloquy or mantra Scarab had been reciting over in his mind on the flight out. The execution of the imperiled three would need to be performed quickly, should the leader have wished for his men to survive. Seeing that his men survived was not a concern for the mercenary, so he lifted the barrel of the silent weapon to Valerie, who tried to look away from the muzzle of her murderer but was unable to.

She looked deep into the eye of the firearm, peering far within to see from what dark corner the round would emit. Her mind ran, already imagining the smoke drizzling from the lips of the pistol. There was nothing she could do – nothing any of them could do but simply watch in horror. The girl's senses flooded, focused intensely on the happenings around her. She could feel the wind ripping through her auburn hair, the tightness of the ties around her wrists, the wet mud that seeped through her pants and soaked her legs.

Doerrman squeezed his eyes shut. He felt helpless and alone even as he knelt next to two of the most important influences that had ever entered his life. The defeated soldier could look his own death in the eyes, but staring like a chained dog at his lover's life being taken away from her was a worse fate than being killed himself. Air was stolen from his lungs and he was unable to mutter out even the most pathetic of pleas. He had failed her – looking down into the mud, seeing so many things he never wanted to be exposed to.

The wind howled – the storm roused nearer. Tails of lightning blinked far into the sky, reaching so far down that they touched the ground. Thunder cracked in the darkness above. It was coming. Just then, Valerie looked from the silenced firearm to the goggled eyes of the mercenary above her. She could smell his foul breath from beneath her rebreathing unit as he began to whisper:

"I'll spare you the monologue, dear, just remember: all roads lead to the same destination, but only one will get you there. My father used to tell me that," he whispered, "it can be applied to anything. Though in this case – in your case – your journey is the road, and the destination is me." He finished with a growl and flipped a switch above the handle of the firearm to ensure the safety was off.

Her fate was sealed in that moment when Scarab pressed the button on the pistol. Not only because he was now able to deliver a lethal dose of metal into her head in the fraction of a second, but because her intense focus on everything around allowed her to hear the padded footfall that blended seamlessly with the thunder that masticated the land. Whatever lurked above the ridge now descended it, following a ghastly howl that rang out horridly.

She could see the shadows slithering underneath old scaffolding, while others crept over it. Hollow shells of decayed vehicles became tunnels for the beasts that closed in at a rapid rate. Like a fireworks display, the ground around the captives lit up vibrantly as the mercenaries' unleashed Hell on the cliff face, their weapons flashing rounds that peppered against the hidden steel with metallic pangs. Up close the silenced weapons were not as quiet as they had been earlier that night, loud bangs echoing in synergy with the roars and laughter that bellowed from the hill.

Scarab half-turned to his men, to the mutants that barreled down upon them. Valerie squinted her eyes to see the largest beast of all, trotting downward behind the rest of the pack – silver patches of fur glistening in the moon's path. The long tusks of the monster would surely ravage the corpses of the men she would soon maim.

And it was the last thing that she would ever see. Before Valerie had the chance to look back upon her captor a single round burst from the chamber. The bullet was in her head before she heard the pistol fire. Her mind cut out and raced away.