Sanctuary

Chapter 16

Eben was shocked: how did he get loose? He turned his head towards the tree were Olaf was tied up and saw Emilia and Nina. Emilia made a sign that everything is all right. Now was not the time to question her decision, so he turned his head again towards the threat, raised the bow, aimed and fired. The creature to Olaf's left hit the ground. Half a second later, the creature to his right got grounded by a bolt stuck in its forehead. The path now cleared, Olaf could concentrate on the remaining two, which now were worryingly close to the trailer. Mid run he arched his legs and jumped, left knee up in the air. He grabbed the creature on his left at the back of its head and slammed its face with the knee, deforming it. Olaf let loose of the creature and landed, spun around his center of gravity, hit his right heel against the left leg mid spin, raised his right leg and used the momentum of the spin to pierce the creatures head. Growls came from the rear and side of the trailer. More creatures were closing in. While getting his right foot on the ground, he yelled at Laura who was still frozen in the doorway:

"Run!"

"Not without Jasmin."

"Run!" Olaf shouted. "I'll take her!" A bolt hissed on his right. A growl was silenced. With Laura out of the way, Olaf lifted Jasmin in his arms, spun and ran towards Tim and Eben, bolts and arrows hissing on both sides of his head. Seconds later he reached Tim and Eben and let Jasmin down. Maja's anger cry got their attention.

"We are getting overrun over here!" Jan shouted.

"Go!" Tim said to Eben. "Olaf and I will handle the situation. Jasmin is safe here. At least for now. GO!"

Eben looked around to assess the situation. From the direction of the trailer only a few more creatures appeared, scattered around in a wide angle. Three more approached from their right. In the back, Nina and Emilia were both fighting one creature, Nina armed with one tire lever, Emilia with a branch she managed to find somewhere. The situation to the left looked worst. So Eben decided to run and aid Maja and Jan. After a few steps he stopped. There was no time to waste running. And he closed in enough to risk using the bow. Jan was using the baseball bat keeping 4 creatures at bay. He was surrounded by three dead ones. A few meters further to Jan's left, Maja had just cracked a creatures head using the small axe they used for fire wood. Eben had forgotten about the axe, but was glad Maja had found it. The creature fell to ground pulling Maja down with its own weight. The axe was deadly, but it stuck in the creature's skull. Maja was bent over it trying to get the axe out. From both her left and her right, two more creatures jumped towards her. The one on the right was already heading for her, the other one dropped its attention from Jan, drown by Maja's panting due to the effort to release the axe. The left one was closer, so Eben aimed at it and released the arrow, hoping Maja would manage to get the axe out in time. He doubted he would have time to reload, aim and release again before the second creature reached her. His arrow hit the target dropping it to ground. But Maja was still bent over the corpse. Eben shouted at her:

"Majaaa, your right!"

Maja turned her head towards her right. Eben was reloading, but not fast enough. The creature plunged head first, taking Maja by surprise. It sunk its teeth in her neck. An arrow hit its temple. It fell. So did Maja. The creature's mouth was red of fresh blood. Between its cramped teeth, there was her Adam's apple...

Shocked by both the view of Maja laying in a pool of blood and the loss of a companion, Eben froze for a few seconds. Jan's panting brought him back to senses. Now was not the time for guilt. Nor for mourning, at least not if he did not want to mourn more friends. Eben turned his eyes towards Jan. From the initial four creatures, one left for Maja and was now facing the dirt. Another one was slain by Jan. Two more were remaining and circling Jan. Eben could not decide which one posed a greater threat to Jan, so he kept his bow raised, cord tensed and switching aims. Jan took a swing towards the creature in front of him. The hit landed, deforming the creatures left side of the head and propelling it to the ground. This however left Jan unbalanced and prone to an attack from the creature behind him. The creature did not hesitate, attacked and knocked Jan to the ground. An arrow struck it from the side. It fell over Jan. Eben ran towards him, helped him remove the body and get up. Jan saw the sadness in Eben's eyes.