The Apostate Trials

Chapter 15

Miles is dead.

No matter how many times Noah repeated that thought─no matter how many times he replayed the events of Miles' death in his head, no matter how many times he breathed or thought or blinked, none of it felt real. Nothing. Not a single thing. Not even the vibration within his pocket that announced the arriving of new orders, or the distorted waves of panic he heard in the background, the ringing in his ear profound, his vision blurry, his head throbbing.

Somewhere deep within that shell he had so instantly become, his body moved of its own volition, as if remote controlled. It reached into his pocket and brought the text before his eyes. One simple word coated the screen, this one in red bold instead of the normal black, a bleeding effect of some sort distorting it.

                       ─Survive.

"Um, guys," He heard someone shout over the chaos. It was Rylan. He sounded terrified, something that caused everyone to immediately stop what they were doing. Even snapped Noah from his stupor. "What are those...things?"

They all clustered by the glass doors of the front entrance, each trying to make sense of the things that were quickly approaching them, too overcome by fear to actually move, to take their eyes away.

Whatever they were, they weren't human─that much was clear.

While they did have human skin, they had no ears, eyes, or nose, only large mouths that oozed some sort of bluish substance that vaguely resembled saliva; black veins seemingly branched all over their bodies, their bones visible through their tight skin, their appendages extended in the most deformed of ways. They ran on all fours, had menacing tails coated in their deformed skin, sharp and sleek, each with a frightening set of jagged, black teeth attached to the tip. They increased their pace as they let out tongue-less, bloodcurdling shrieks, the sound one would expect from a wounded animal─of death quickly approaching.

Truly grotesque sights, Noah felt his stomach truly grow raw with nausea. He couldn't find the words to describe just how they made him feel, how horrified he became at the mere sight of them, his face pale, his skin icy.

Some did vomit, Nikki, her eyes wide with horror. And she wasn't the only one to completely lose her cool─Rylan showed signs of cracking as well. One girl screamed. Another guy had wet his pants. The last few moments, how over half of their ranks had been slaughtered, it all paled in comparison to what they were now seeing.

"W-We have to get out of here," Noah's voice came out uneasy. He did his best to hide it, but the fear was too much. "Now!"

"No! We won't make it in time!" Rylan countered; the look in his eyes begged Noah not to argue, and he didn't.

"Then what do you we suggest we do?"

"We have to take those things out! Or hide! Barricade the doors?! I don't bloody know!"

He was losing it, the sight of which sent chills down Noah's spine. The others sat silent in the background, two faces Noah didn't recognize, the remaining eight with expectant glances glued onto him. Time was of the essence. Those creatures were closing the gap between them with every breath they took, every blink they made.

Noah bit down on his lip, chomped the poor thing, felt his body twinge from the pain, the taste of iron in his mouth. "Nikki, you go to the higher floors and see if you can take most of those things out. Karen, North, Rosary, I want you three hanging back while watching our six. We'll ride out that glass until the very last second. Don't shoot unless you absolutely have too but keep those things off our backs at all costs. Everyone else, help me find things to barricade the doors with. We need to buy as much time as we can get."

They all nodded furiously in compliance, each and every one going about their assigned tasks with the utmost efficiency.

Noah and the others grabbed at a few tables and chairs, began stacking the glass openings surrounding the hospital's entrance heavily with them. The first few creatures reached the glass quicker than expected; the others continued piling things atop one another, North's group holding steady in the background with itchy trigger fingers, their courage diminishing with every shriek the creatures made.

Three fingers on each hand and two large toes, the creatures began violently attacking the windows with their tails. Once the glass started to crack, Noah ordered everyone into defensive positions; one creature broke through the glass and climbed in effortlessly, its bluish blood leaking out onto the marble floor, tainting it was a faint steam.

Its head twisted at an unnatural angle as it dodged North's bullets with ease. Its reflexes were sharp. It couldn't see them, but somehow it knew exactly where each of them stood.

It made a run for Rylan, pounced at him with a subtle increase in speed that was quite overwhelming. Hugo tackled it, spattering blue blood among himself, angrily emptying his entire clip into the monster.

Another had broken in, two; Noah didn't notice the second until it was well on Karen─its mouth divided into two halves, then it reached inside of it to yank something akin to a tongue out, only this thing moved and squirmed. The creature had forced it down Karen's throat long before anyone else could react, choked her with it, her painful gags profound. North managed to injure it with a few frantic warning shots. Noah finished off the job by blowing the thing's head off. It appeared to stop moving that way.

"Aim for their heads," He shouted as more got in.

Some clung to the walls like spiders, moved along them with the swiftest of ease, keeping their distance as they attacked with their tails. It was almost as if they understood him. Others sought to overwhelm the small group with their numbers, two or even three for every individual. They were too agile to keep up with. Their attacks were slowly becoming less random and more coordinated, some would even throw feints in the mix before backing off entirely, allowing another to repeat the process. They were adapting. A thought that chilled Noah far beyond words.

As soon as one fell, another rose to take its place. Bullets threw them off balance but they clearly didn't feel any pain. Only headshots mattered. And the more time progressed, the harder it became to hit them. Ammo was running low. Everyone was growing tired; the creatures seemingly had an infinite supply of stamina, only the constant swapping between feints began to replay themselves within Noah's head, alarming him.

They were conserving their stamina. Wearing their prey down while keeping a vast majority of their own dwindling numbers from experiencing fatigue. They had overwhelmed them, now they were outsmarting them. They'd adapted to both the terrain and their enemies, choosing the best course of action almost instantaneously. And with his gun finally clicking empty, Noah knew the battle had already been lost, perhaps no sooner than it started. The others felt it too, slowly backed themselves into a wall.

That's when it happened. Mere moments away from embracing the brink of a slowly and excruciating death, a shout emerged from beyond the horde of creatures. "Get down!"

They all did as it commanded, watching as the blue-blooded creatures before them had their nimble bodies quickly eaten away by gunfire. It wasn't long before they were standing face to face with their savior, a small group of four guys, each donning the most advanced armor Noah had yet to lay his eyes on.

One in particular, a brown-bearded man with messy brown hair and dimples, smiled warmly at the group. "You guys look like you could use a hand," He said, voice coming out far higher-pitched than Noah had expected. "We have a camp set up just east of here, in a factory. You're welcome to it, if you'd like."