The Split

Chapter 50

Berlin, 1945

I didn't have to tell her twice. She took off down the hallway, and I turned my body sideways to cover her escape. I squeezed the trigger, and my rifle released a hail of bullets, the noise reverberating off the walls loudly and deafening me. The first few hit the creature's shoulder but the rest hit the wall as he shot his long arm out and knocked my rifle aside.

I pushed off him and stepped back, making space to aim again with my StG like I'd been taught. There weren't many rounds left in the magazine and I knew I had to make the last few shots count. To my surprise, instead of drawing his own rifle the creature lurched forward. Before I could react, he grabbed my rifle with both hands.

I looked up at it's face as I tried to pull away. It's tiny pupils danced around it's abnormally large eyes sending fear through my heart. It laughed as it seemed to sense this, a deep rumbling that sounded powerful and cruel. With a sharp jerk, it tore the gun from my grasp and flung it to the other side of the room. The creature was incredibly strong, it had snatched my StG as if I were a child clutching a toy.

I raised my leg and kicked him in the thigh, trying to create space and pull out my sidearm. He didn't move at all, and grabbed the arm reaching for my pistol to keep me from pulling away. It's grip felt cold on the bare skin of my arm and I looked down as I tried to tear him off me.

My vision left me as I felt a foreign presence force it's way into my thoughts. As I brushed against it, I was shown impressions and images of scenes too horrible to mention. The Hunter tore through my memories savagely and I was powerless to fight it. The space around my thinking was tightening as the thoughts of the creature wrapped around my own. The other beings inside my head panicked at the intrusion, I could feel their fear as they huddled together, communicating with thoughts I could not see.

Just as the creature neared my consciousness, the General, one of my headmates, leapt in front of my thoughts and pushed back against the invader. My mind instantly cleared and my eyesight returned in a flash.

I tried to make the best of the time he had bought me, and pry the creature's hand off of me. The hand was larger than any I had seen before. It wrapped around my elbow completely with almost no effort. Strange black veins covered it's parchment-like skin. They bulged as he squeezed my arm tightly. I heard a loud series of cracks as he clamped down and broke the bones beneath. Crying out in agony, pain clouded my thoughts as I tried to think up a way to escape.

My limp arm dropped from his grasp, and I turned to my side, knocking him back using my hip with as much strength as I could muster. The creature took a step back to avoid falling backwards, and slung the rifle on it's back around to the front of it's body. As the Hunter raised the butt to his shoulder, I reached across my body to pull the pistol out of my belt with my good hand. My fumbling fingers couldn't grab it so I settled for my knife and stepped forward. The Hunter had his eye to the sights and I saw it's long finger inching towards the trigger like it was in slow motion.

Desperate, I threw up my broken left arm and made contact with the creature's rifle. Pain shot through my limb as my broken bones collided with the barrel. A shot rang through the room, and I felt the wind from the bullet move past my left side. Catching his counter blow with my shoulder, I plunged my knife through the creature's eye, dragging the blade down to the bottom near its pupil.

The Hunter grabbed it's punctured eye and let out a deafening shriek, making me want to cover my ears from the shrill noise. My eardrums pounded as it continued to scream. I lowered my body and put my good shoulder to it's waist and drove him backwards and out the window it had came through.

It fell hard and I watched below as it slowly stirred, pulling the knife from it's eye. I turned and sprinted down the hallway, trying to ignore the pain from my shattered arm.