The Last Day

Part IV

The Last Day

Part IV

        Steve squinted into the dust cloud while wiping away the blood that was dripping into his left eye from a cut on his forehead. He could tell there was something very large inside of the cloud by the howls coming from within and a darker shadow that seemed to be in the throes of a painful death.

        "Might be a good time to get back to Hope, Steve," Claude spoke from the pastor's side, leaning heavily on his axe. "Satan and his cronies seem pretty distracted by what's going on in that cloud, and most of us are pretty beat up."  The lumberjack spit a glob of red-tinted spittle to the ground to accent his point.

        Reluctantly Steve took his gaze off of the cloud and turned his attention to his warriors grouped behind him. Fatigue mixed with worry stared back at him as every man sported an injury of some degree and more than a few faces were missing completely, but conviction still shone in their eyes and Steve knew if he ordered them to continue fighting they gladly would.

        "How many have we lost?" Steve sucked at his teeth as he waited for Claude to answer.

        "Around fifteen with Adam Stall and Nick Barger soon to follow." The second answered in a flat voice. "I think there might be a few more in that group, but that's just a hunch." He finished with a noncommittal shrug.

        "Alright, let's get back home," Steve said then knelt by Nick's side and placed his hand on the young man's forehead. Nick's skin normally had the complexion of a chocolate bar, but the loss of blood that he had suffered from a cruel slash to his stomach had him looking more like a watered-down Yahoo. "You're going to be ok, Nick. We'll get you back to Hope and Doc Hobart will fix you up." Steve's smile stretched widely on his jaw, but the hope it was meant to convey fell short of his eyes.

        "I don't think I'm going anywhere, Preacher, they got me..." a cough halted Nick's statement and a thin tendril of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. "They got me good, but we gave them a good whipping, didn't we."

        Nick's hand trembled weakly as he reached for his pastor, a smile filled with joy despite the crimson staining his lips split Nick's face when Steve's strong hand gripped his. "Soon." He whispered and then his eyes closed for the last time.

        "Into our Father's embrace you go, Nick. May you be at peace." Steve laid Nick's hand gently on the young man's still chest.

        "Steve, we need to go now. The demons are starting to lose interest in the cloud and are mustering their soldiers again." Claude stated. "If we don't move soon we won't make it back."

        The sound of steel ringing against steel started to filter in from the edges of their knot of defenders as the Soulless slowly renewed their prodding attack. Steve slid his sword back into its scabbard heavily and then squatted down to wrap his arms around Nick's corpse. With a grunt he stood and with a second grunt he was able to get the young man's body balanced over his shoulder. "Keep the perimeter solid and those inside grab our fallen friend's bodies. We won't leave them for these butchers to desecrate."

        As Hope's warriors gathered their fallen, the clang of battle and the grunts of men and demons began to increase all the while the dust cloud billowed and the ground trembled from the veiled events within. Agonizing minutes later the troupe began their slow retreat back to the secure walls of Hope.

        A long hour passed and the men of Hope had only managed to move a quarter of the way towards their goal, and now the Soulless with their demon masters had surrounded them once again. With their retreat cutoff, the men had one by one lain their burdens in the middle of the defensive wall of swords and spears, drawn their own weapons, and then went to join their brothers.